Hyosung Heavy Industries (298040) unveiled a broad slate of next-generation power grid technologies, including ultra-high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission and solid-state transformers (SSTs), at the BIXPO 2026 international electric power technology expo, which opened on November 4. At the event, running through November 6 at the Kimdaejung Convention Center in Gwangju, South Korea, the company put its voltage-source HVDC system at the forefront — a technology regarded as central to the South Korean government’s push to localize HVDC on the west coast.
In September, Hyosung Heavy Industries was selected as a participant in the valve and controller segments of KEPCO’s large-capacity voltage-source HVDC localization and demonstration project. The valve and controller technologies secured through that project are on display at this exhibition. KEPCO plans to apply the localized core equipment to the Saemangeum–Seohwaseong HVDC project to verify its performance and reliability.
HVDC is a technology for transmitting large volumes of power over long distances; it incurs lower losses than alternating-current transmission and can improve grid stability, making it the backbone of the west coast power grid buildout. The voltage-source approach offers more flexible control than conventional current-source systems and is better suited to integrating renewable energy, which is why the need for localization has been raised consistently.
Beyond HVDC, Hyosung Heavy Industries also exhibited the STATCOM (static synchronous compensator), a grid-stabilization device; the solid-state transformer (SST), billed as a next-generation power conversion device; and ARMOUR+, an artificial intelligence (AI)-based power equipment asset management platform. The company plans to share its development results and expand technical exchanges with major customers and industry officials from South Korea and abroad during the exhibition.
“This exhibition is an opportunity to broadly introduce our core next-generation power grid technologies and solutions to customers at home and abroad,” a Hyosung Heavy Industries official said. “We will continue to advance future power technologies such as SSTs and HVDC to strengthen our competitiveness in the global market.”
A total of 198 companies from South Korea and abroad are participating in BIXPO 2026, which is hosted by KEPCO. The power equipment industry sees the scope of South Korean-made equipment adoption in the west coast HVDC project, once it gets fully under way, as a bellwether for future order volumes. Some observers say that if Hyosung Heavy Industries delivers results in the valve and controller localization demonstration, it could secure order competitiveness in follow-on HVDC projects as well.
Still, with the demonstration project remaining at the performance-verification stage, additional verification steps lie ahead before commercialization. Industry officials expect that securing long-term operational reliability for the converter equipment and the pace of building a South Korean supply chain will be key to the project.