Spotlight: The Siemens Energy-Eletrobras contracts worth US$53mn

Germany's Siemens Energy has signed a series of contracts with Brazilian company Eletrobras aimed at modernizing and revitalizing transmission assets. 

The supply of equipment and solutions totals more than 300mn reais (US$53mn) and covers several states in the country.

“Eletrobras has led a very successful effort towards resilience, a word that, in times of climate change, will be in our vocabulary on a daily basis. More than a retrofit, this is a joint effort to strengthen the grid and system reliability in a major investment that will guarantee energy security for hundreds of thousands of people,” André Clark, Siemens Energy's senior vice president for Latin America, told BNamericas.    

The contracts include the renovation of substations, the replacement of circuit breakers, the supply of new series reactive compensation banks, as well as transformer monitoring systems for high-voltage direct current (HVDC).

The projects include the modernization of the Grajaú substation, which is responsible for almost 40% of the energy supplied to the city of Rio de Janeiro. It includes replacing equipment in the gas-insulated substation (GIS) system with technologies that are more efficient in terms of operating costs, maintenance and potential carbon emissions.

In Maranhão state, Siemens Energy will supply new fixed series capacitors (FSC) for the Imperatriz line. The equipment will be used to ensure greater stability for the electricity system, while increasing transmission capacity.

Also in Maranhão, as well as Pará, Mato Grosso and Rondônia states, Siemens will install 46 new 245kV and nine 550kV circuit breakers. The company will be responsible for commissioning, testing and training Eletrobras' operations and maintenance teams. 

In addition, Siemens will supply an online monitoring system for gases dissolved in insulating oil, which will serve the transformers of the HVDC system at the collector substations in Porto Velho, in the state of Rondônia, and Araraquara, in São Paulo.

At BNamericas’ request, Siemens Energy provided further details of the contracts through its press office:

Timetable 

“The modernization of the Grajaú substation is scheduled for final delivery in the second half of 2027. 

“The supply of a new reactive FSC at the Imperatriz substation (for the Imperatriz-Colinas C1 transmission line) in Maranhão is expected to be delivered at the end of 2025.  

“The HVDC monitoring system is scheduled for delivery in the second half of 2025. The circuit breakers are scheduled for delivery at the end of 2025 (550kV models) and the end of 2026 (245kV models), respectively,” the company stated.

Local manufacturing 

“The main solutions developed locally include circuit breakers and FSCs. For this equipment, the factory in Brazil is Siemens Energy's global competence center, also producing for the rest of the world. 

“On the other hand, technologies such as the HVDC monitoring system are developed outside the country in Germany, although they are assembled and implemented here with local labor.”

'More than a mere retrofit'

“The contracts satisfy conditions of regularity and continuity of supply, resulting in increased efficiency and safety, as well as providing necessary upgrades in view of the current and future demands of the electricity grid, falling under ‘reinforcement and improvement’ projects, according to the scope defined by [Brazil’s electric power watchdog] Aneel. 

The company also said it was important to stress that the modernizations are more than just retrofitting equipment and that the positive impact of adopting such technologies and solutions goes beyond renewing the installed base, which is an essential factor to mitigate the risk of system outages due to depreciation of power grid assets that are over 20 or 30 years old. 

“The use of the existing system as a bridge is particularly important for advancing the energy transition, especially in countries like Brazil, where the current grid requires extensive modernization to meet the expansion of supported powers. 

“Projects such as those we’re announcing also fulfill an important environmental role, by avoiding CO2 emissions resulting from the construction and installation of new energy infrastructures,” the company said.