The move represents the first phase of the UHVDC transmission project, which is intended to enable up to supply of hydropower from northeastern India to a substation in Agra to feed across north India.
The project is intended to supply power over a distance of 1,728km to address power crises in the region.
In 2011, ABB, along with government-owned power company Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL), secured $900m contract for design, system engineering, supply, installation and commissioning of the project for India’s central transmission utility, Power Grid Corporation of India (POWERGRID).
ABB Power Systems division president Claudio Facchin said: "This is a major milestone in the execution of the landmark North-East Agra project, the first multi-terminal UHVDC transmission link in the world, and underlines ABB’s global leadership in HVDC technology.
"We continue to support India in the development of its power infrastructure and integrating more renewables to bring clean power to millions of people. This is a focus area of our Next Level strategy."
The North-East Agra link, which would transmit power for around 90 million people, is expected to be the first multi-terminal UHVDC connection in the world upon completion scheduled in 2016.
The 6000MW UHVDC link, which will have a converter capacity of 8,000MW, will have three converter stations including two sending stations to convert power from AC to DC for transmission over a single power line and a third receiving station in Agra for converting the power back into AC for distribution to end users.
