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ABB Ltd
12 October 2001

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For your business and technology editors

ABB wins US$ 360-million order for Chinese power link

Technology group to build high-voltage power system
     
Zurich, Switzerland, October 12, 2001 - ABB, the global power and automation 
technology group, has won a US$ 360-million order to build a high voltage direct
current (HVDC) power transmission system linking hydropower plants in central 
China to Guangdong province.

Under the terms of the contract awarded by the State Power Corporation of China,
ABB will design and build a 3,000-megawatt link delivering power to the 
industrial region of Guangdong 940 kilometers away.

'This is our second major order in China in two years, and further evidence of 
ABB'S desire to support Chinese economic development by offering advanced 
technological solutions, and by working directly with Chinese partners in the 
utility and equipment manufacturing industry,' said ABB'S president and CEO, 
Jorgen Centerman. 'Our strong presence in this growing local market now includes
27 companies and 6,000 employees.'

'The two-stage project will be delivered in 32 months, cutting the normal 
timetable for a project this size by 30 percent. ABB is already supplying 
converter stations for an 890-kilometer HVDC power link between the Three Gorges
power plant and Shanghai.

ABB pioneered HVDC transmission technology, which is an efficient and cost 
effective way of moving electricity over long distances. An HVDC system converts
alternating current (AC) into direct current (DC) and transmits it to a distant 
location, where it is converted back to AC and distributed to consumers.

The order includes two power converter stations, 28 power transformers and six 
smoothing reactors to reduce current fluctuations in the system. Equipment will 
be supplied by ABB'S transformer factory in Ludvika, Sweden, and the Chinese 
state-owned Xi'an transformer works, an ABB licensee.

ABB (www.abb.com) is a global leader in power and automation technologies that 
enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering 
their environmental impact. ABB has 160,000 employees in more than 100 
countries.