Chinese engineers assist building Matiari-Lahore HVDC project

BEIJING: The engineers from National Power Construction Corporation (NPCC) have expressed appreciation to engineers of XJ Group Corporation (XJGC), China, responsible for supplying, installing and commencing core equipment for Matiari-Lahore 660kV high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission project, under the framework of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
This set of core equipment includes converter valves, DC&AC control and protection, measuring system, and so on. “These can be regarded as the “brain and heart’ of the Matiari-Lahore HVDC project,” said Hu Siquan, the general manager of XJGC Flexible Transmission Branch. According to Liu Kun, a project manager of XJGC, the first team of XJ Group, over 10 engineers, reached the site of Matiari-Lahore HVDC project in January 2020, following the arrival of equipment. With the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese engineers had to work while observing the rules and measures to fight against the pandemic.
To push ahead the HVDC project, ten engineers of XJ Group braved the coronavirus risk to arrive in Pakistan in June 2020.
These engineers used to keep working nearly 13 hours a day in the intense heat in July.
They had finished the installation of 336 converter valve modules at both of Lahore converter station and Matiari converter station, installation and commissioning of 24 converter valve towers and valve control systems as well as the subsystem tests.
In October 2020, the transmission line had been set up and XJ Group’s DPS3000 Operator control system had finished commissioning. They had overcome various difficulties during the three years of construction. Liu told media that, “Some of the 30 engineers had been working in Pakistan for over a year, with one staying there for 465 days”. –Agencies