The Elbe Project was the name of the first commercial static high voltage direct current transmission system in the world, based on mercury arc valve

Mercury arc valve

A mercury-arc valve is a type of electrical rectifier used for converting high-voltage or high-current alternating current into direct current . Rectifiers of this type were used to provide power for industrial motors, electric railways, streetcars, and electric locomotives, as well as for...

s.

Experimental installations between Weittengen and Zurich

Zürich

Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...

, and Charlottenburg

Charlottenburg

Charlottenburg is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, named after Queen consort Sophia Charlotte...

 and Moabit

Moabit

Moabit is an inner city locality of Berlin. Since Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it belongs to the newly regrouped governmental borough of Mitte. Previously, from 1920 to 2001, it belonged to the borough of Tiergarten. Moabit's borders are defined by three watercourses, the Spree, the...

, Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, were demonstrated between 1933 and 1942. Contracts were signed with AEG

AEG

Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in 1883 by Emil Rathenau....

 and Siemens

Siemens AG

Siemens AG is a German multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Munich, Germany. It is the largest Europe-based electronics and electrical engineering company....

 in 1941, and construction began of a bipolar direct current line from the Vockerode power station

Vockerode Power Plant

thumb|1998thumb|2001Vockerode Power Plant was a lignite and later also gas fired power plant in Vockerode, east germany. It was built in 1937 and shut-down between 1994 and 1998.-History:...

 near Dessau

Dessau

Dessau is a town in Germany on the junction of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it is part of the merged town Dessau-Roßlau. Population of Dessau proper: 77,973 .-Geography:...

 on the Elbe

Elbe

The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...

, to Berlin-Marienfelde

Marienfelde

Marienfelde is a locality in southwest Berlin. It is a mixed industrial and residential area, and part of the borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg.-Transportation and industry:...

, in 1943. The line was designed to transmit 60 megawatts using a symmetrical bipolar operating voltage of +200 kV and - 200 kV. Two single-core buried cables with aluminum conductors were used. A piece of the cable used can be seen in the Deutsches Museum

Deutsches Museum

The Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of technology and science, with approximately 1.5 million visitors per year and about 28,000 exhibited objects from 50 fields of science and technology. The museum was founded on June 28, 1903, at a meeting of the Association...

, Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

.

While the former static inverter hall at Vockerode Power Plant still exists and was used as a workshop, the corresponding hall at Berlin-Marienfelde, which was situated just north of today's Marienfelde substation, was demolished and replaced by a large hardware store.

The system was never put into service owing to the chaos in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 at the end of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. The Soviets

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 dismantled the system as part of war reparation payments, and reused it in building a 115 kilometre long 200 kV monopolar high voltage direct current line with a maximum transmission rating of 30 megawatts between Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 and Kashira

Kashira

Kashira is a town and the administrative center of Kashirsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Oka River south of Moscow. Population:...

, in 1951. This transmission line is no longer operating.

Sites

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Coordinates
Vockerode Static Inverter Plant ( today workshop)	51°50′40"N 12°21′50"E
Berlin-Marienfelde Static Inverter Plant ( demolished, today hardware store)	52°25′49"N 13°22′42"E