Celilo Converter Station

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The Celilo Converter Station, built in 1970 and owned and operated by the Bonneville Power Administration, is the northern terminus of the Pacific Intertie, near The Dalles, Oregon, in the United States.

Until September 2001, the Celilo Converter Station was partially open to the public and included displays describing the history of DC transmission and the Pacific Intertie, but security concerns have closed this facility to the public.

[edit] Configuration

The Celilo Converter Station was originally configured with six groups of six-pulse mercury arc valves with a blocking voltage of 133 kV each (for a total of +/-400kV) and a maximum current of 2000 amperes.^[1] ^[2]

In 1985 two six-pulse valve groups of thyristors were added in order to increase the voltage to 500 kV per pole for a total differential voltage of 1000kV.^[1]

In 1989 two new 1100 ampere, 500kV thyristor converters were added in parallel with the two existing converters, giving a total transmission power of 3100 MegaWatts (3100 Amperes at +/-500kV).^[1]

In 2004, the mercury arc valves groups were replaced with light-triggered thyristor groups to eliminate the enviromental risks of mercury and to reduce the maintenance costs of the obsolete mercury arc valves.

[edit] Related Structures

There was also a DC test facility for testing high voltage equipment nearby (now abandoned, soon to be demolished). At the end of the 1960s, a test transmission line for 1333 kV was erected in order to test equipment for this voltage, which was to be used for a planned HVDC from Celilo Converter Station to Hoover Dam. This line, however, was never built.