HVDC and FACTS

Transmission of power using HVDC to connect national electricity grids,

or large generation plants to load centres has existed for the past 50 years.

For large cities with high load densities that depend on power imports from
outside, HVDC links are an ideal choice due to the security and exibility
they provided.

HVDC systems are also connected in parallel with AC circuits to enhance

the exibility of AC transmission lines.
 In addition to providing real power
ow from these sending to the
receiving end, the two converters can
also control their reactive power so as
to control the voltage magnitude at the
sending or receiving end thus
inuencing the AC power ow.

For the connection of large renewable

energy sources, such as off shore wind
farms, which are normally far away
from load centres (typically the best
sites for renewable energy generation
are located a long distance from load
centres), HVDC can be attractive as it HVDC Network
is exible and economic.
 FACTS devices can enhance the power ow on existing power lines.
For the transmission line shown in Figure 11.2, the sending end voltage
is VSS, the receiving end voltage is VRR and the equivalent
impedance of parallel connected lines is X. The power transfer through
the lines is given by:

P=VSVR Xsin(S R)
 The Current Source Converter HVDC (CSC-HVDC) has been the
technology of choice to transmit large amounts of power from one point to
another.
The basic building block of both rectier and the inverter of the CSC-
HVDC is a current source converters .
CSC-HVDC technology is primarily chosen because of the reliability and
robustness inherent within the thyristor valves at the heart of the converter.
The converters always draw reactive power, require a strong AC voltage
source for each converter and are susceptible to inverter commutation
failure.

 The typical control approach used for steady state power transfer would
be that the rectier maintains a Constant Current (CC) that is, its
controller changes with the load.
The inverter maintains a Constant Voltage (CV) that is, is kept
constant. As the denominator of Equation (11.7) is very small, a small
change in results in a large change in Id.

As Id increases with more power transfer through the link, should

decrease proportionally and as reaches its minimum limit(about5),no
further control is possible and the rectier is operated at constant , that
is CV mode.
 Voltage source converters Increases in the voltage and current ratings of
self-commutating power electronic devices now allow the use of a Voltage
Source Converters (VSCs) for HVDC. The full controllability through both
turn-on and turn-off operation of the IGBTs allows the self-commutated
VSCs to reverse power ow much more quickly than CSC and eliminates
the risk of commutation failure.

The VSC also has the ability to absorb and generate both active and reactive
power independently of one another. Further advantages are that the
generation of harmonics is greatly reduced, minimising the footprint of
lters required to absorb them and the capability to black start an AC
system (that is, restore power without the aid of an external voltage source).
 1. Valve Units : To increase the voltage rating of the valve unit, a large
number of IGBTs are connected in series.

Normally a number of redundant devices are built into the valve to increase
its robustness and delay any maintenance until the next routine maintenance
period. For the converter to work effectively auxiliary circuitry is required
for each IGBT.

Snubbers to minimise over-voltages,anover-

currentprotectioncircuit,andvoltage-sharing resistors are usually connected
in parallel to the IGBT. Further, the gate of each switch needs control
circuitry.
 2. DC Capacitors: The primary function of the capacitors on the DC side of the converter
is to stabilisetheDCvoltage.Sizingthesecapacitorsshouldbeinaccordancewiththeswitching
frequency for optimum performance and economy, the faster the switching frequency, the
smaller the capacitors can be.
3. AC Transformers: The transformer provides isolation and voltage matching. It also
contributes to the reactance between the VSC and the grid.
4. Phase Reactors: The phase reactors serve several purposes; they assist in controlling the
ow of reactive and active power, reduce harmonic currents and limit any fault currents.
5. Filters: AC lters are used in VSC to reduce higher-order harmonics produced by the
switching of the converters. As these lters are not required to provide reactive power
(unlike in the case of CSC technology),their size is signicantly reduced. HF blocking
lters protect the transformer from high dv/dt stresses and prevent DC entering the
transformers. The DC lter reduces the harmonic currents on the DC side.
 In transmission circuits as the load at the receiving
end varies, the receiving end voltage also changes. To
maintain the voltage within limits, reactive power
compensation devices may be employed. They
control the voltage at a node by injecting or
absorbing reactive power.

In addition to steady state voltage control, reactive

power compensation devices are used to mitigate
dynamic voltage variations caused by line switching,
load rejection, faults and other disturbances.
 The basic elements of a TCR are a reactor in
series with a bi-directional thyristor pair as
shown in Figure. Each thyristor conducts on
alternative half-cycles of the supply
frequency.
The current ow in the inductor (L) is
controlled by adjusting the conduction
interval of the back to back-connected
thyristors.
Figure 11.6 A TSCTCR arrangement.
Figure 11.5 A 12-pulse TCR
 Thyristor-based series compensation

Connection of capacitors or inductors in shunt changes the ow of reactive

power in a circuit and so changes the network kvoltage.

In general, amodest level of shunt reactive compensation is benign and poses

few risks to the power system.

Similarly, power electronic shunt compensators alter the reactive power ows.
In contrast, capacitors may be connected to a circuit in series to reduce its
inductive reactance.
Phase shifter. Note: Only single phase connection to the booster winding is shown
Phase shifters are widely used in power systems for controlling the magnitude and direction of
the active power ow, often over parallel circuits. The principle of operation of the
conventional phase shifter is explained in Figure 11.12a.

Control of the magnitude and direction of active power ow on the line is achieved by injecting
a voltage in series with the line, thus changing the phase angle of the receiving end voltage.
 UPFC

The Unied Power Flow Controller (UPFC) is an AC to AC converter which can

change the parameters of a circuit: line end voltage, the phase angle between the
two bus bars and the apparent reactance of the line.
It is implemented by two AC to DC converters operating from a common DC
link capacitor as shown in Figure 11.14.
One converter is connected in series and the other is in shunt with the
transmission line. VSC2 generates a voltage Vx(t) = V sin(t )at the
fundamental frequency () with variable amplitude (0V Vmax)
 phase angle (0 2) which is added to the AC system
voltage by the series connected coupling transformer. From
Figure 11.14, the receiving end apparent power is given by:
SR = VRI =VRVS +Vx VR jX
= VRVS VR jX +VRVx jX

The rst term in Equation is the apparent power associated

with the uncompensated line and the second term is the
apparent power associated with the series injection by
VSC2.
 An Interline Power Flow Controller (IPFC) connects a number of VSCs
in series to different lines. The DC side is connected in parallel as
shown in Figure 11.16. This enables power to be transferred from one
line to another through the series links.

IPFC connected
to two lines`
 A Multi-terminal HVDC consists of a number of converters which are connected
to a common HVDC circuit.

They have been discussed since 1963 when the first parallel multi terminal
HVDC system was proposed.

Two multi-terminal HVDC links based on CSC-LCC were commissioned.

The first one was the SardiniaCorsicaItaly link which was converted from
mercury arc rectifiers to thyristor-based CSC-LCCs in the 1990s.