On the afternoon of March 7, 2019, Waco Kungo, a small town in the south central part of Cuanza Sul Province, Angola, witnessed an event of great significance. The electric transmission line of the Lauca connection line project delivered electricity from the Lauca Hydropower Station nearly 200 kilometers away to Waco Kungo and brought the town with light. More importantly, it also indicated that China’s magnetically-controlled shunt reactor (MCSR), which was exported for the first time, went live.

　　

MCSR is electrical equipment for real-time control of compensation capacity by means of the changes of magnetic flux in iron core. Due to the complex structure, there were previously only two cases of successful operation of MCSR in China. In the Lauca connection project, the 8th Complete Plants Division of CMEC brought MCSR successfully to the state grid of Angola, effectively suppressing the reactive power fluctuations in the power grid.

　　

The commissioning of the three MCSRs of the Waco Kungo Substation lasted for one week, during which the project office, the manufacturer and the construction contractor made joint efforts to overcome difficulties, solved a lot of problems arising from the commissioning process, eventually made a breakthrough and made an initial success in exporting the MCSRs.

　　

The Lauca connection line project covers five MCSRs, three of which have so far been put into operation and the other two are scheduled to go live soon. The MCSRs of this batch, after being put in use in local grids, will play a critical role in increasing the stability of the state grid of Angola and reducing the line loss of the transmission line.