Transgrid and Hitachi Energy Commission Sixth and Final 500 kV Shunt Reactor for HumeLink Substation Backbone

New South Wales transmission operator Transgrid has taken delivery of the sixth and final 500 kV three-phase shunt reactor manufactured by Hitachi Energy, an...

New South Wales transmission operator Transgrid has taken delivery of the sixth and final 500 kV three-phase shunt reactor manufactured by Hitachi Energy, anchoring voltage control on the critical 365-kilometer HumeLink transmission project.

Controlling High Voltage Rise on Australia’s 500 kV Corridors

Weighing over 120 tonnes each, the six variable shunt reactors are distributed across the Maragle, Bannaby, and Gugaa substations to absorb excessive reactive charging power produced by the long-distance 500 kV overhead lines during light-load hours.

These units represent Australia’s first deployment of 500 kV three-phase shunt reactors engineered with low-noise gapped-core technology to minimize electromagnetic vibration and acoustic hum in sensitive rural environments.

Connecting Snowy 2.0 to the National Electricity Market (NEM)

With transformer and reactor foundation slabs fully poured across all three terminal substations, construction teams are advancing gantry structural steelwork and 500 kV disconnectors.

When energized, HumeLink will unlock up to 2,200 MW of dispatchable pumped-hydro generation from Snowy 2.0, reinforcing grid reliability as aging coal fleets retire in eastern Australia.