Manitoba Hydro International has contracted with Siemens Germany, to provide HVDC engineering services for dynamic performance testing for the Yunnan-Guangdong UHVDC Project in Southern China.

The Yunnan-Guangdong UHVDC project is an ultra-high voltage DC transmission system (±800 KV, 5000 MW) which will transmit hydroelectric power 1400 km from the Yunnan Province in south-western China to the Guangdong Province on the south coast of China. Siemens Germany has been awarded a contract by China Southern Grid Company to supply and construct the Yunnan-Guangdong UHVDC interconnection, together with Chinese partners. Commercial operation is scheduled for mid-2010.

Dynamic performance testing, an important phase of the Yunnan-Guangdong UHVDC Project, has the purpose of verifying the dynamic characteristics of the HVDC system, as well as behaviour of the Pole Control and DC protection system. The dynamic performance tests (DPT) are being conducted at the China Southern Grid Company's Technology Research Center in the city of Guangzhou, on large real-time digital simulators (RTDS) and actual Siemens' HVDC controls. MHI is providing Siemens with an HVDC controls engineer, whose role is to evaluate the DPT test results against the design study and specification documentation.