Maintenance practices and Year 2000 preparations at the Virginia Smith Converter Station

The 200 MW back-to-back Virginia Smith Converter Station (VSCS) provides an asynchronous tie between the East and West AC power networks of the United States of America. Since being made available for commercial operation in March of 1987, a number of operational and maintenance issues have arisen prompting the need for preventive maintenance plans and procedures. This paper presents operating and maintenance experiences and preventive maintenance procedures adopted to ensure reliable operation of the station. Also discussed are Year 2000 (Y2K) concerns and testing.