News

With increasing demands for electric power resulting from the modernization of the electricity infrastructure in large areas of the country, as well as the growth of the population, Bangladesh has implemented an ambitious programme to increase its transmission grid capacity. This infrastructure programme includes the construction of a number of new generation plants over the next ve years.

The power line owner, Power Grid of Bangladesh (PGCB), decided to use High Temperature Low Sag (HTLS) conductors for the most part. The design chosen for the majority of the existing and new lines (132 kV to 400 kV) is the ACCC type (Aluminium Conductor Carbon Core). Dervaux has been an accredited supplier of ACCC products since 2012 and meets the 3-year minimum supply requirements of PGCB.

In January 2018 and after several months of negotiations, Dervaux was officially awarded the accessories contract by GS Korea, who acquired PGCB’s 400kV Patuakhali-Gopalganji project, a multi-million dollar contract to be delivered in 2018. This project was one of the first in the world to use ACCC Conductor technology on a quadruple beam. It is therefore a flagship project for PGCB.

A project team has been set up at Dervaux to oversee the engineering, manufacturing, sale, tes- ting and delivery of the order. The team has been in constant communication with all stakeholders (CTC, GS Korea, PGCB, Sterlite, NGK insulation) to ensure the project is delivered on time.

As this was a new 400 kV line design with a new type of ACCC Dhaka conductor, factory acceptance tests and high voltage and high power tests also needed to be performed. These tests were carried out in May 2018 respectively at Dervaux and the VKI testing laboratory in Hungary for the first deli- very, representing nearly 70% of the project.

The tests were passed and the shipment was finalized in June 2018.The second delivery, representing the remainder of 30%, was successfully tested in early November 2018 and will be shipped in December 2018. The success of this project has opened the doors to many other opportunities for Dervaux to position itself as a signi cant supplier in this market over the next 5 years.