ITER is connected to the grid

ITER is connected to the grid

F4E and ITER International Organization hail a historic moment as the construction site of biggest fusion device is successfully connected to France’s grid (RTE). Up until now, there has been a connection supplied by France’s CEA, offering 15 MW. As of today, a direct connection has been established offering a supply of 75MVA at 400kV. Thanks to the ITER transformers provided by China and the US, the 400kV will be converted to 22 KV and 66 KV for the needs of the ITER site and components.

To achieve this milestone the teams of technical people have been working for nearly a year in order to have everything ready to perform the connection with RTE.

The great deal of symbolism behind this technical achievement can be interpreted in two ways: first, this connection will let us explore the full potential of the machine that promises to test the feasibility of fusion energy like no other, and second, we have been entrusted with the responsibility to contribute to the energy grid in the decades to come.

Some of the ITER Transformers installed on-site, © ITER IO