South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction (E&C) has won a KRW1tn ($725m) contract to build a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) network project in Saudi Arabia.

The contract forms part of a 1,089-kilometre (km), 500-kilovolt (kV) HVDC transmission line connecting Riyadh Power Plant 14 (PP14) to the Kudmi substation in southwest Saudi Arabia.

The company signed the contract to build the transmission line's first package, which extends over 369km, with National Grid, the power transmission unit of state utility Saudi Electricity Company (SEC).

The lump sum turnkey project is expected to be completed by January 2027.

Hyundai E&C said the project will utilise a double bipole HVDC system with a power transmission capacity of 4,000MW.

Regarded as a next-generation electricity transmission technology, an HVDC transmission system is ideal for renewable energy such as solar or wind power. It uses direct current for electricity transmission, with voltages between 100kV and 800kV.

An HVDC system is often referred to as a 'power superhighway', transporting significantly more power over greater distances than the common high-voltage alternating current line, and incurs lower power losses.

The South Korean contractor said it has completed 35 transmission line projects in Saudi Arabia in the past 50 years.