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5 October 2007 - Siemens Power Transmission and Distribution (PTD) and Infineon Technologies AG have signed a contract for the establishment of a joint venture for the development and production of bipolar high-power semiconductors.
The main emphasis will be in the area of high-voltage direct current transmission (HVDC). Infineon has integrated its production lines for bipolar high-power semiconductors in Warstein, Germany and Cegléd in Hungary into the joint venture and holds a majority stake of 60 per cent of the shares of the newly formed company, which will trade as a GmbH & Co. KG.
Siemens PTD is an exisitng customer for the high-power thyristors that Infineon manufactures on its bipolar production lines. They are used chiefly in projects for high-voltage direct current transmission (HVDC), for example in China for the transmission of power from inland dam projects to cities on the coastline.
"For us, the joint venture with Infineon is an important step toward continuing to set trends in technology for power transmission," said Udo Niehage, group president of
Siemens PTD.
Reinhard Ploss, member of the board of directors of Infineon and head of operations, stated: "I'm absolutely certain that this joint venture is the right way to achieve success with our bipolar products in the long term. Together with Siemens PTD, we will succeed in consolidating and expanding our position on the HVDC market. The joint venture will also safeguard jobs and gives us the necessary technology lead."
Siemens PTD has achieved significant success in the HVDC transmission area recently. Within a six-month period three HVDC transmission projects in Europe were awarded to Siemens. These were:
• Storebaelt project, an electricity link across the Great Belt (Storebaelt) strait in Denmark
• BritNed, an HVDC transmission link between the Netherlands and the UK
• An HVDC transmission link between Valencia on the Spanish mainland and the island of Majorca.
In June, the company was also awarded an order for the construction of a major HVDC transmission link in China. The 1400 km long electricity link between the provinces of Yunnan and Guangdong is currently the highest capacity HVDC transmission link in the world, with a transmission capacity of 5000 MW. This system will also be the first ever to operate at a DC transmission voltage of 800 kV.
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