Siemens Energy handpicked the Basslink high-voltage direct current transmission (HVDC) line for this digitalization project because the team at Basslink have long displayed an open approach toward innovation and learning over the years.
When it first went into operation, the 295-kilometer link was the longest submarine power cable in the world and the first interconnection between Tasmania and the Australian state of Victoria.
The new project is one of a several successful co-creation projects under way between Siemens Energy and its customers. This close collaboration between the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and the operators considerably accelerates the development of innovative solutions and radical new ideas by expanding the pool of firsthand experience, skills and resources that projects can draw from.
Siemens Energy Project Manager Bernd Koppenhoefer, based in Nuremberg, Germany, almost 16,500 kilometers away from the station in George Town, is driving Siemens Energy’s side of the project, working in close, “virtual” collaboration with Mather, Ferencz and the rest of the team. “We began by developing an overall HVDC concept for data connectivity, including how to use the data and create value with it. And now we’re working together to further develop and adapt this for Basslink,” he says.