Sylmar Converter Station

The Sylmar Converter Station is the southern converter station of the Pacific DC Intertie, an electric power transmission line which transmits electricity from the Celilo Converter Station outside The Dalles, Oregon to Sylmar, a neighborhood in the northeastern San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California.

The station converts the 500 kV direct current coming from the northern converter station Celilo to alternating current at 60 Hz and 230 kV synchronized with the Los Angeles power grid.

[1] It is jointly owned by two electric utility providers, Southern California Edison and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

In 1982, the power rating of the mercury arc valve rectifiers was raised by various improvements to 1,600 megawatts.

The controls and older converters, including the mercury arc valves, were completely replaced (in the same valve hall) by a single pair of 3,100 MW 12-pulse converters built by ABB.