High Power Electronics and Flexible AC Transmission System

Narain G. Hingorani, Vice President Electrical Systems Division, EPRI

Joint APC/IEEE Luncheon Speech, April 19, 1988 at the 4merican Power Conference 50th Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois. Reprinted with permission.
ower electronics, as you know, is a combination of power ;emiconductor devices called thyristors, configured in many lifferent ways in circuits with appropriate controls, t o ac:omplish ac t o dc or dc t o ac converison, frequency conversion, switching, reactive power generators and many other 3otential applications. Today, thyristor switching capability .anges from tens of kilowatts t o thousands of megawatts. The thyristor is a one-way switch which conducts when a turn-on pulse is sent t o its gate. Whereas a normal thyristor turns off only when current is brought t o zero by other means, a newer type of thyristor called gate turn-off thyristor can also be turned o f f by sending a turn-off pulse t o its gate. There are many other variations of thyristors such as light-triggered thyristors which can be turned on b y optical signal, asymmetic thyristors, and others. To recognize the evolution of power electronics, one has t o go back t o the era of the mercury arc valve, also a one-way switch which, like the thyristor, could be turned-on b y sending a firing pulse t o its grid. Until the end of the 60s, mercury arc valves served the purpose for ac t o dc or dc t o ac conversion, frequency conversion, and many switching applications. Their use became widespread mostly in electric transportation, rolling mills and other industrial applications. The mercury arc valve reached its glorious peak during the 50s and 60s, when it became powerful enough t o be used in HVDC converters. These HVDC valves with switching capability as high as 2000 amps against 150kV, or 300MW, are still in use in four HVDC schemes including the Pacific DC Intertie in the U.S. Then came the era of thyristors, close on the heels of the well-known transistors. It was recognized that the transistor, a three-layer semiconductor device, could not be used economically for more than about 1 0 0 k W circuits. In the early 60s General Electric invented a four-layer semiconductor device called the silicon controlled rectifier. It was later renamed the thyristor, and has evolved over the years into larger and larger sizes. Larger thyristors are n o w 1OOmm (4 in.) diameter silicon chips, and a 1 5 0 m m (6 in.) chip is not far away. Thyristors can be connected in series t o achieve a very high power level for a complete circuit. The thyristor has indeed revolutionized t h e power electronics industry with more and more high power applications (termed high power electronics) of tens, hundreds and thousands of megawatts. Within a decade, during the sixties and seventies, the thyristor replaced the mercury arc valve completely. This was due t o higher reliability, lower cost, its rugged nature, and lower maintenance, just as the transistor replaced the thermionic valve, the so-called vacuum tube. The thyristor has continued t o evolve in voltage and current ratings, speed of switching, efficiency, gain and cost. As the thyristor improves, it continues t o be used for more and more new applications. The invention of the gate-turn-off thyristor also offers a simpler conversion circuitry in many applications, particularly variable speed devices, thus reducing cost in those applications. The GTO thyristor, invented in the USA, was recently commercialized from Japan. However, GTO thyristors have inherently higher losses and cost compared t o normal (turnon only) thyristors. Thus normal thyristors will continue t o be the main workhorse in many power applications. The most futuristic thyristor yet t o arrive on the scene is being developed b y EPRl and is called the MOS controlled thyristor. It was invented by Vic Temple of GE and combines microelectronic technology on the surface of the thyristor, thereby creating a device which has a potential of high speed, lower losses, turn-off capability, and much improved overall characteristics. EPRl has also developed and advanced thyristor package, also invented b y Vic Temple, which will cut the thyristor cost b y a third. During the last decade, higher energy costs, the difficulty in building new power plants, and improved converter technology, provided an increased market for HVDC transmission. Today there are twelve HVDC projects in operation or under construction in the USA, which makes this country the biggest user of HVDC transmission. However, HVDC, due t o the high cost of converters, will play a limited role in the overall ac power system. This brings me t o the key part of m y speech, the potential of thyristors in ac power systems. Allow me t o introduce a new concept of a thyristor-assisted ac power system. I have called this concept Flexible AC Transmission System or FACTS. Let me explain FACTS t o you. Even with all of the computer controls and communication systems, by and large the ac power system of today is mechanically controlled. Why? Because at the power end, where the final action is taken, the devices are mechanical, and as a result, there is little high-speed control. Because such control is mechanical, it cannot be initiated frequently since mechanical devices tend t o wear out very quickly compared t o static electronic devices. In HVDC and other power electronic applications, thyristors switch t w i c e every cycle with little loss of life. N o w consider power f l o w through an ac line. It is a function of the phase angle, the line end voltages and the impedance and there is no high speed control over these parameters. Phase angle control is rarely utilized and when it is used, the control is b y means of slow, mechanical phase shifters. Tap changers, reactors and capacitors are generally mechanically switched and as a result are also slow methods for con-

IEEE Power Engineering Review, July 1988

trolling the power system. Of course there is no control over the line impedance. Somehow, w e arrive at the required steady state power flow, while maintaining voltages within safe tolerable limits, through the use of generation scheduling, the occasional changing of transformer tap changers, and the switching of shunt reactors and capacitors. On top of that, the ac system has the curse of reactive power, VARS, the cholesterol of power systems, which load up the lines and cause voltage control problems. Consequences of this lack of fast, reliable control are the problems with stability, power flowing through other than the intended lines, inability t o fully utilize the transmission resources t o their thermal and economic limits, VAR flows, higher losses, high or low voltages, cascade tripping, and the like. N o w let us look at HVDC transmission. HVDC has the advantage of precise and fast power control in either direction. You can if you want, get dc t o transmit power in the opposite direction t o the flow of ac power in parallel circuits. Not that you would want to, but it illustrates the point. You can reverse power in eight milliseconds. Why? Because the phase angle does not play a role on the dc side. The dc voltage is controlled at high speed by the converters and the inductance and capacitance of the line are not a liability as they are for ac. True, the line resistance is not controlled but this is not necessary because the voltage is controlled. Thus, the freedom from uncontrolled parameters and the high speed control of voltages give us an HVDC transmission system through which the desired power can be controlled in either direction w i t h considerable freedom (within design limits) from the ac system frequency, the ac voltages, and the ac system impedances. While HVDC is the answer t o some of our problems, it cannot be used on a broad basis because of the high cost of converters. Instead w e can increase the flexibility of any ac line or any part of an ac system if w e improve the control over one or more of the base parameters, voltage, phase angle, and impedance. It is not all or nothing. On a case-by-case basis, any improvement in control can translate into a corresponding improvement in the ac transmission system. Hence the concept of the Flexible AC Transmission System, or in short, FACTS. It is a collection of thyristor based controllers, including phase shifter, advanced static VAR compensator, dynamic brake, modulator series capacitor, load tap changer, fault current limiter, and perhaps others that have yet t o be invented.
Appropriatesdectiensf-mw-rnore of these controllers, on a case-by-case basis, will in future years create the possibility of the flexible ac transmission system.

Consider the phase shifter. Hypothetically, I can envision thc possibility of a thyristor-based high-speed 360' phase shif ter. Such a phase shifter could control the power flow be tween t w o systems at will, regardless of any significant vari ations in the frequency, the voltages and the impedance o the t w o interconnected ac systems. This phase shifter ma\ not be cost-effective, but w h o knows, some inventor ma) come up with some good circuit concepts for a 360' phasf shifter which would make it economically viable. But m y hy pothesis suggests that for many applications, a phase shiftei of a more practical range, say 4 30, can go a long w a y t o ward controlling power flow and can also be a powerful sta bilizer. Consider the static VAR compensation. Thyristor based static VAR compensators (SVCs), introduced twelve years ago foi rapid voltage control, are increasingly being used. However, they are still beyond reach, economically, for many applica. tions. A new all-thyristor-based concept, a so-called voltage driven converter that can control both reactive and active power rapidly, will become available in a f e w years. Such ar SVC will impact both the transmission and distribution sys. terns. Another aspect of FACTS is the series capacitor which ir small switched modules can be used t o control the seriez impedance. Often in the ac system, power flows through lower voltage circuits because they have the lowest impedance of any power line. Thyristor control of several series capacitor modules, one-half t o one ohm in size, gives the requried control of line impedance and they can be used t o damp system oscillations. Recently, a thyristor-controlled series capacitor system called NGH-SSR Damping Scheme, was demonstrated on Southern California Edison's MohaveLug0 500kV transmission line. More can be said about other controllers such as the fault current limiter, load tap changer, and others. There are ample new opportunities for universities, manufacturers and research organizations t o suggest innovations which can enhance the flexibility of the ac transmission system. I believe that the evolution of FACTS controllers is going t o be progressive w i t h time, from the near term t o the long term. A s the thyristor improves, the economic viability of the FACTS controllers will improve. Gradually ac systems will become more and more flexible using the thyristor as the base component.

I am confident that d o w n the road, all electric power from its production t o its end use will flow through several thyristor devices. Thus, w e are heading for a power system which is electronically controlled rather than mechanically controlled.

North American Electric Reliability Council

News
1988 Summer Reliability Assessment
Generating capacity will be adequate t o meet expected peak demands this summer in all areas of North America except the Mid-Atlantic Area Council (MAAC) Region and the Long Island Area of the Northeast Power Coordinating Council Region, according t o the North American Electric Reliability Council's 1 9 8 8 Summer Assessment report. Copies of the 1 9 8 8 Summer Assessment are available from the North American Electric Reliability Council office in Princeton, New Jersey, 609-452-8060.

IEEE Power Engineering Review, July 1988