Technology Catalogue Final

Downloaded from orbit.dtu.
dk on: Dec 05, 2023
Offshore Wind Power Plant Technology Catalogue - Components of wind power plants,
AC collection systems and HVDC systems
Das, Kaushik; Antonios Cutululis, Nicolaos
Publication date:
2017
Document Version
Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record
Link back to DTU Orbit
Citation (APA):
Das, K., & Antonios Cutululis, N. (2017). Offshore Wind Power Plant Technology Catalogue - Components of
wind power plants, AC collection systems and HVDC systems.
General rights
Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright
owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.
 Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research.
 You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain
 You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal
If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately
and investigate your claim.
Offshore Wind Power Plant Technology Catalogue
Components of wind power plants, AC collection systems and HVDC systems
Kaushik Das, Nicolaos Antonios Cutululis

Department of Wind Energy
Technical University of Denmark
Denmark
October, 2017

ǡ

ǡ

ǣ
ǡ ǡ
ǡ Ǥ
ǣ ሾሿ
ǣ
ǣ ǯȀǯ
Ȁ
Ǥ
Ǥ

Contents
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 Outline of the Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 Wind Turbines 4
2.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.1.1 Doubly-fed Induction Generator (DFIG) based Wind Turbine 4
2.1.2 Fully Rated Converter (FRC) based Wind Turbine . . . . . . 4
2.2 Technical feasibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3 Stages of Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.4 Cost and Lifetime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3 AC Cables 7
3.1 Cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.1.1 Technical feasibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.1.2 Stages of Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.1.3 Cost and Lifetime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.2 High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) cables . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.2.3 Cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4 HVDC Cables 11
4.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.1.1 Self-Contained Fluid Filled Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.1.2 Mass Impregnated Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.1.3 Cross-Linked Poly-Ethylene Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5 AC-DC Converters 16
5.1 Line Commutated Converters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
5.1.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
5.2 Voltage Source Converters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
5.2.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
5.3 Diode Rectifier Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
5.3.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
6 DC-DC Converters 21
6.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
6.1.1 Isolated DC-DC Converters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
6.1.2 Non-Isolated DC-DC Converters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
7 Filters 25
7.1 Passive Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
7.1.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
7.2 Active Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
7.2.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
8 Reactive Compensation 29
8.1 Shunt Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
8.1.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
8.2 Series Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
8.2.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
9 Transformers 33
9.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
10 Offshore Substructures 35
10.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
10.1.1 Monopile Substructures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
10.1.2 Tripod Substructures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
10.1.3 Tripile Substructures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
10.1.4 Jacket Substructures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
10.1.5 Gravity substructures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
10.1.6 Floating Substructures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
11 Protection Equipment 42
11.1 AC Circuit Breaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
11.1.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
11.2 DC Circuit Breaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
11.2.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
11.3 Fault Current Limiter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
11.3.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
12 Auxiliary Equipment 47
12.1 Tapping equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
12.1.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
12.2 Supervisory, control and data acquisition (SCADA) . . . . . . . . . . 47
12.2.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
13 Summary 49
Appendices 52
Appendix A HVDC Converter Station Configuration 52

Glossary
AC Alternating Current. 1, 2
CSC Current Source Converter. 2, 14
DC Direct Current. 2
DFIG Doubly-fed induction generator. 4
DRU diode rectifier unit. 17
FRC Fully Rated Converter. 4
HTS High Temperature Superconducting. 6, 8, 9

HVAC High Voltage Alternating Current. 1, 2, 6, 7, 10
HVDC High Voltage Direct Current. 1, 2, 10, 13, 14
LCC Line Commutated Converter. 12, 14–16
MI Mass Impregnated. 10
MV Medium Voltage. 1
MVAC Medium Voltage Alternating Current. 7
OHL Overhead Line. 2

OWPP Offshore Wind Power Plant. 1, 3, 14, 23
PMSG permanent magnet synchronous generator. 4
TCSC Thyristor Controlled Series Compensation. 28

TRL Technology Readiness Level. 3
VSC Voltage Source Converter. 2, 12, 14–16
WPP Wind Power Plant. 7, 8

WRIG wound rotor induction generator. 4
WRSG Wound rotor synchronous generator. 4
WT Wind Turbine. 1
XLPE Cross-linked polyethylene. 6, 7, 10

1 Introduction
Traditionally, Offshore Wind Power Plants (OWPPs) are connected through many com-
ponents as shown in the figure 1. An OWPP consists of controllable, variable speed
Figure 1: Traditional connection of offshore wind power plants
Wind Turbines (WTs). These WTs are connected through Medium Voltage (MV) sub-
marine cables typically at voltage level of upto 33-66 kV to the Offshore Alterna-
ting Current (AC) substation. The transformer in offshore AC substation steps up the
voltage to 132-200 kV for further transmission. The stepping up of voltage is impor-
tant to reduce the current flow through the cables. Reduced current flow decreases the
copper/aluminium requirement for the cables as well reduce the power losses through
them.
Offshore AC substation can be connected to the grid at shore either directly through
High Voltage Alternating Current (HVAC) cables or through High Voltage Direct Cur-
rent (HVDC) converters and HVDC cables.
HVDC transmission technology has been developed and applied from as early as
1880s. In the early 1950s, HVDC transmission technology was used for the deve-
lopment of subsea interconnection with mercury arc valves used for electric AC/DC
converters. HVDC transmission lines are applied when there is a need to transport
high electrical power over long distances and/or in a controlled manner.
In terms of submarine applications, HVDC transmission technology is mainly ap-
plied either for connecting offshore platforms and OWPPs to land or for transmitting
electricity over long distances through the sea where overhead lines cannot be used.
Another subsea application can be for connecting the island networks to the main-
land. HVDC transmission is the most viable solution available for the transfer of high
1
power across long subsea distances. However, choice between HVAC and HVDC is
based on economic considerations. Furthermore, HVDC is a proven technology for
transmission projects that interconnect asynchronous networks. 1 HVDC subsea trans-
mission technology also has been largely applied in single point-to-point connections.
The system approach gives the effective rating. Current maximum HVDC power un-
der planning is up to ± 600 kV and 2200 MW per bipole as a system. 2 Looking into
the future, meshed HVDC subsea systems may become available. However, develop-
ment of meshed HVDC networks today is still limited as circuit breaker technology
for DC grid is still not commercially matured. Circuit breakers, so called switchgear,
secure the operation of the meshed HVDC system. As per the Europacable report, 3 the
development of this circuit breaker technology is in final development phase.
Vaféas et. al. 4 studied and enumerated the benefits of HVDC technology over con-
ventional HVAC in the REALISEGRID project. HVDC technology has been proved
to be attractive for various applications such as long distance power transmission, long
submarine cable links and interconnection of asynchronous systems. There are mainly
two types of HVDC technology. The more recent technology is self-commutated
Voltage Source Converter (VSC) technology. VSC technology is more flexible than
the more conventional line-commutated Current Source Converter (CSC) since it al-
lows controlling active and reactive power independently. 5 Independent power flow
controllability along with the advantage of increased transmission capacity can make
HVDC technology preferable to conventional HVAC. Although the choice of HVDC
vs. HVAC should be made based on economic studies; since the investment cost of
a VSC-HVDC converter station is generally higher than HVAC substation. However,
the overall investment costs of a Direct Current (DC) transmission link can be lower
than those ones of a corresponding AC interconnection if a certain transmission dis-
tance is reached called “break-even” distance. 6 The break-even distance upon which
DC is more economical is project dependent (typically between 80 and 120 km for
offshore submarine cable connections, while for onshore applications, the break-even
distance between an AC and DC Overhead Line (OHL) is in the order of magnitude of
700 km) 7 and the decision of using AC or DC should result from a techno-economic
1. Europacable, An Introduction to High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) Underground Cables, http:
//www.europacable.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Introduction_to_HVDC_Underground_
Cables_October_2011.pdf, 2011.
2. Europacable, An Introduction to High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) Subsea Cables Systems, http:
//www.europacable.eu/wp- content/uploads/2017/07/Introduction- to- HVDC- Subsea-
Cables-16-July-2012.pdf, 2012.
3. Ibid.
4. A Vaféas, S Galant, and T Pagano, “Final WP1 report on cost/benefit analysis of innovative technolo-
gies and grid technologies roadmap report validated by the external partners,” REALISEGRID Deliverable D
1 (2011).
5. Gianluigi Migliavacca, Advanced technologies for future transmission grids (Springer Science & Bu-
siness Media, 2012).
6. Ibid.
7. A Vaféas, S Galant, and T Pagano, “Final WP1 report on cost/benefit analysis of innovative technolo-
gies and grid technologies roadmap report validated by the external partners,” REALISEGRID Deliverable D
1 (2011).
2
analysis including the line, station and losses components of costs. 8, 9
1.1 Motivation
Building an offshore grid is a technically complex endeavour implying a significant
number of components. While for AC connections the technology is mature and well
known, in the area of power electronics and HVDC technology the component deve-
lopment is in its more incipient phases. This has prompted for the creation of a techno-
logy catalogue covering all the main components needed when developing offshore
wind power and grids projects.
The main purpose of this Technology Catalogue is to serve as a common source
for the techno-economic assessments done in the Baltic InteGrid project. To qualify
for this, it should include both technical characteristics and cost parameters for all the
relevant components of an OWPP and its connection to the grid.
The technology development has been classified in four main categories in this
technology catalogue and described in Table 1. European definition of Technology
Readiness Level (TRL) 10 is associated with the categories.
Table 1: Categories of technology development
Category Description TRL 11 today

mature commercially available today 9
- with (some) operational experience
young full scale prototypes available 6-8
- very close to commercialization
future some prototypes available 4-5
- but development still needed
distant future proof of concept and small scale prototypes 1-3
- significant development still needed
1.2 Outline of the Report

This report aims to cover most of the technical components for offshore network star-
ting from wind turbines up to the onshore connecting substation. This report contains
small description of each of the components followed by stages of development, cost
and lifetime.
8. Patrick PANCIATICI et al., “e-HIGHWAY 2050 Modular Development Plan of the Pan-European
Transmission System 2050.”
9. Gianluigi Migliavacca, Advanced technologies for future transmission grids (Springer Science & Bu-
siness Media, 2012).
10. European Commission, Technology readiness levels (TRL), https://ec.europa.eu/research/
participants/data/ref/h2020/wp/2014_2015/annexes/h2020-wp1415-annex-g-trl_en.pdf.
3
2 Wind Turbines
2.1 Description
Wind turbine technology has been drastically improving and has become matured du-
ring the last decade. While wind turbine design objectives were traditionally convention-
driven but they have been changed over these years to being optimized driven within the
operating regime and market environment. 12 Not only the wind turbines have become
larger in size, but also the wind turbine technology have progressed from fixed-speed,
stall-controlled and with drive trains with gearboxes, to become pitch controlled, vari-
able speed and with or without gearboxes. 13 Decreasing cost of power electronics also
increasingly supports the trend toward variable speed turbines.
Offshore wind turbines are categorically converter based variable speed wind tur-
bines. 14
The most commonly applied variable speed wind turbines can be categorized into
two types:
2.1.1 Doubly-fed Induction Generator (DFIG) based Wind Turbine

Doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) configuration represents variable speed con-
trolled wind turbine with a wound rotor induction generator (WRIG) and partial-scale
frequency converters (rated to approx. 30% of nominal generator power) on the rotor
circuit. Stator of the wind turbine generator is directly connected to the grid. Partial-
scale frequency converter controls rotor speed. The speed range of the rotor is dicta-
ted by power rating of the partial-scale frequency converter. Speed range is typically
around pm 30% of the synchronous speed. The frequency converters can provide ad-
ditional support like reactive power compensation. 15
2.1.2 FRC based Wind Turbine

In this configuration, full variable speed control of the wind turbine is achieved through
full-scale frequency converters. The generator is isolated from the grid through this
full-scale frequency converter. The frequency converter provides additional supports
like reactive power compensation and a smooth grid connection. FRC based wind tur-
bine can operate in the entire speed range as opposed to limited speed range of DFIG.
The generator can either be electrically excited (Wound rotor synchronous generator
(WRSG)) or permanent magnet excited type (permanent magnet synchronous genera-
tor (PMSG)). 16 Some FRC based wind turbines may have no gearbox but a bulky direct
12. Anca Daniela Hansen et al., “Grid integration impacts on wind turbine design and development,” in
PowerTech, 2009 IEEE Bucharest (IEEE, 2009), 1–7.
13. Anca D Hansen et al., “Review of contemporary wind turbine concepts and their market penetration,”
Wind Engineering 28, no. 3 (2004): 247–263.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid.
16. Anca D Hansen et al., Dynamic wind turbine models in power system simulation tool DIgSILENT,
technical report (2004).
4
driven multipole generator. 17
2.2 Technical feasibilities

Installed offshore wind turbines are typically today in the 2-6 MW range, which is a
mature and well proven technology today. According to Wind Europe, 18 the average
size of installed offshore wind turbine was 4.2 MW in 2015, a 13% increase over 2014.
This was due to the increased deployment of 4-6 MW turbines in 2015. 19 However,
all the major wind turbine suppliers are commercially offering wind turbines in the 6-8
MW range 20, 21 with some of them being able to produce up to 9 MW, 22 qualifying
them as a young technology today, but with clear prospects and development timeline.
In the 10-20 MW range, there are no commercially available wind turbines today.
However, research efforts in providing initial designs are being performed, mainly by
academia. A 10 MW reference wind turbine design has been developed by Technical
University of Denmark (DTU). 23 In the European project-INNWIND, this design was
up-scaled to 20 MW, 24 however no detailed design data are available yet. This is
considered a future technology.
2.3 Stages of Development

Mature
2.4 Cost and Lifetime

• Capex: 1500-2500 US$/kW 25
• Opex: N/A
17. Anca D Hansen et al., “Review of contemporary wind turbine concepts and their market penetration,”
Wind Engineering 28, no. 3 (2004): 247–263.
18. EWEA, The European offshore wind industry - key trends and statistics 2015, 2016, https://www.
ewea.org/fileadmin/files/library/publications/statistics/EWEA-European-Offshore-
Statistics-2015.pdf.
19. Ibid.
20. Siemens Wind Power, SWT-7.0-154, http://www.siemens.com/global/en/home/markets/
wind/turbines/swt-7-0-154.html.
21. Mitsubishi Vestas Offshore, V164-8.0 MW, http://www.mhivestasoffshore.com/innovations
/.
22. Mitsubishi Vestas Offshore, World’s most powerful wind turbine once again smashes 24 hour power
generation record as 9 MW wind turbine is launched, http://www.mhivestasoffshore.com/new-24-
hour-record/.
23. Bak, Christian and Zahle, Frederik and Bitsche, Robert and Kim, Taeseong and Yde, Anders and
Henriksen, Lars Christian and Hansen, Morten Hartvig and Blasques, Jose Pedro Albergaria Amaral and
Gaunaa, Mac and Natarajan, Anand, The DTU 10-MW Reference Wind Turbine, http://orbit.dtu.dk/
files/55645274/The_DTU_10MW_Reference_Turbine_Christian_Bak.pdf, 2013.
24. Innovative Wind Conversion Systems (10-20MW) for Offshore Applications, INNWIND Project, www.
innwind.eu.
25. Bak, Christian and Zahle, Frederik and Bitsche, Robert and Kim, Taeseong and Yde, Anders and
Henriksen, Lars Christian and Hansen, Morten Hartvig and Blasques, Jose Pedro Albergaria Amaral and
Gaunaa, Mac and Natarajan, Anand, The DTU 10-MW Reference Wind Turbine, http://orbit.dtu.dk/
files/55645274/The_DTU_10MW_Reference_Turbine_Christian_Bak.pdf, 2013.
5
• lifetime: 20-25 years
6
3 AC Cables
Most prevalent types of HVAC Cables are Cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) cables.
Another technology, High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) cables is mature but
their large application in electricity highways can be limited due to constraints of the
cryogenic systems. However, HTS cables can be deployed in specific projects based
on economic studies.
3.1 XLPE cables

XLPE cables belong to the class of extruded cables. Extruded cables can generally be
categorized into 3 categories:
• EPR - ethylene propylene rubber
• PE - polyethylene
• XLPE - cross-linked polyethylene
Cross-linked polyethylene has good electrical properties such as low dielectric loss
factor, which makes it feasible to operate at higher voltage than other kind of material
like Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) insulated cables. Polyethylene as thermoplastic mate-
rial is used as cable insulation but with applications limited by thermal constraints. 26
Cross-linking is performed in XLPE through the process known as ‘vulcanization’ or
‘curing’. Chemical additives are added to the polymer in small quantity which enable
the molecular chains of the polymer to be cross-linked into a lattice structure. 27
Figure 2: Example of XLPE cable design 28
Example of XLPE cable design is shown in Figure 2. Extruded insulation cables

consist of many layers. Surrounding the conductors, there is inner semi-conducting
26. Eric Alwyn Reeves and Martin Heathcote, Newnes electrical pocket book (Routledge, 2013).
27. Ibid.
7
screen layer, the insulation compound and an outer semi-conducting insulation screen,
extruded simultaneously. 29 A semi-conducting water swelling tape separates the outer
semi-conducting screen and the metallic sheath limiting water propagation along the
cable core in case of cable damage. A layer of polyethylene compound is extruded
over the lead alloy based metallic sheath. 30
XLPE cables are used for both HVAC as well as Medium Voltage Alternating Cur-
rent (MVAC).
3.1.1 Technical feasibilities

• Length: 20-100 km; However, maximum length depends on voltage rating and
amount of shunt compensation .31
• Maximum Voltage: 500 kV 32
• Current Rating: 1.9-2.6 kA 33

• Cross-section: Example for Prysmian MVAC/HVAC cables is given in Table
below. 34
Rated Voltage (kV) Cross-section (mm2 )
66 240-2000
110 400-2500
132 400-2500
150 400-2500
220 630-2500
275 630-2500
345 800-2500
400 800-2500
500 1600-2500
• Deep Sea Installation: 400kV subsea cables can be either single core or 3-core.
Although, sea depth does not influence maximum transmissible power through
the cable, however, cable laying facilities can limit the cable diameter at the
deepest water. 35
29. Soo-Bong Lee et al., “Development of 250kV HVDC XLPE cable system in Korea,” in Electrical
Insulating Materials (ISEIM), Proceedings of 2014 International Symposium on (IEEE, 2014), 334–337.
31. Grid Innovation Online, Technology Database, http : / / www . gridinnovation - on - line . eu /
Technology-Database.
32. Prysmian, High Voltage Cables, http : / / nl . prysmiangroup . com / nl / business _ markets /
markets/hv-and-submarine/downloads/datasheets/Prysmian-Delft-HVac.pdf.
33. Ibid.
34. Ibid.
8
3.1.2 Stages of Development
Mature
3.1.3 Cost and Lifetime

• Capex: 3675-4062 ke/km (installation cost = 29%) 36
• Opex: 7.3-8.1 ke/km (OPEX assumed at a 0.2% p.a.) 37
• Lifetime: N/A
The prices stated for the cables above also include installation costs that vary substanti-
ally depending on the area of application. For example, the prices for the XLPE-HVAC
cables can be higher than that for the XLPE-HVDC cables. The reason is that the in-
stallation costs are included per km. The AC cables are mainly used for the array
cabling of the Wind Power Plant (WPP), that means there are a lot of cables with a
length of less than 1km. However, every cable needs lifting work and a connection on
both ends. Therefore, extrapolating this cost to e/km can make the installation costs
very high. Approximate CAPEX based on cable area of cross-section are as follows:
• 95mm2 : 113ke/km
• 150mm2 : 136ke/km
• 240mm2 : 174ke/km
• 400mm2 : 240ke/km
• 630mm2 : 336ke/km
Installation costs are depending on the length and amount of lines of the WPP
3.2 HTS cables

The property of HTS to transmit power without resistance loss allows the utilities to
increase power density by 2 to 8 times. 38
Benefits of HTS Power Cables 39
• Increased current carrying capability
• No resistive electrical losses
• Use of liquid nitrogen as coolant which in environmentally benign
• Can be installed into existing conduit infrastructure
37. Ibid.
38. SuperPower-Inc, HTS Transmission Cable, http://www.superpower- inc.com/content/hts-
transmission-cable.
39. Ibid.
9
• Takes up less space than conventional cables therefore further expansion possible
• Increased power requirements of existing substations can be satisfied
• Can operate at high current levels with much lower losses also requiring less
voltage transformations (reduced cost of transformers)

• Length: 3 km; Although, there is no theoretical limitation in length however,
actual maximum single length without joint installed is about 600 m. Major
economic limitation for mass application of HTS lies mainly in the operation
and maintenance of the cryogenic system. 40
• Maximum Voltage: 220 kV 41

• Current Rating: 4 kA 42

Mature
3.2.3 Cost
• Capex: N/A
• Opex: N/A
• Lifetime: N/A
Cost in future will depend on the evolution of the market and material properties of
HTS in future.
41. Ibid.
42. Ibid.
10
4 HVDC Cables
4.1 Description
HVDC transmission technology is mainly applied when either transport of high electri-
cal power over long distances becomes uneconomical for HVAC transmission; power
transmission needs to be done with higher controllability and/or to connect two asyn-
chronous networks.
Subsea application of HVDC transmission is predominantly used for connecting
offshore wind farms to land or transmitting electricity over long distance through the
sea where application of overhead lines may be technically or economically not fe-
asible. However, HVDC cables are beginning to be used also for land transmission
projects for transmitting high volume of power. HVDC is a proven technology for
transmission projects that interconnect asynchronous networks. 43
HVDC underground cables are used to carry medium and high power (100 MW
− 1,000 MW) over distances above 50 km. HVDC underground cables have been
commercially been used since the 1950s. Two types of HVDC cable technologies are
mainly available commercially - Mass Impregnated (MI) Cables and XLPE Cables.
Self-contained fluid filled cables are also becoming popular however they are used for
very high voltage and short connections due to hydraulic limitations. 44
4.1.1 Self-Contained Fluid Filled Cables

Self-Contained Fluid Filled Cables are paper insulated oil filled cables. These kinds
of cables are more suitable for HVDC transmission for short distances up to approx-
imately 50 km. The insulation system in these cables need to be constantly under oil
pressure. This oil pressure prevents from formation of cavities when oil contracts as
the cable cools down. These kind of cables can be used for both AC and DC operations.
Examples using low pressure oil filled cables are the interconnections between Saudi
Arabia - Egypt (“Aqaba Project”) and the Spain-Morocco project. 45
4.1.2 Mass Impregnated Cables

Mass-impregnated subsea HVDC cables do not need oil feeding and therefore, there
is no limitation in terms of length. Mass-impregnated cables are composed of a high
viscous impregnating material which does not cause any leakage in events of cable da-
mage/failure. Compared to oil filled cables, the compact design of Mass-impregnated
subsea HVDC cables also allows for deep water applications. An example using mass-
impregnated subsea HVDC cables is the interconnection between Spain - Mallorca
45. Ibid.
11
(“Cometa Project”). 46
This type of cable is currently one of the most used, however, extruded cables are
being used more and more in recent years as can be seen from Figure 3. 47, 48
Figure 3: Evolution of length for mass impregnated paper cables and extruded cables
for submarine and underground applications 49
Mass impregnated cables has been in service for many years and is a matured
technology that can be used for voltages up to ± 500 kV and 1600 A DC which corre-
sponds to a maximum pole rating of 800 MW and bipole rating of 1600 MW. Conduc-
tor sizes are typically up to 2500 mm2 (at transmission capacity of 2000 MW bipole).
47. E. Zaccone, High voltage underground and subsea cable technology options for future transmission in
Europe, presentation at E-Highway2050 WP3 workshop April 15th, 2014 Brussels, 2014, http://www.e-
highway2050 . eu / fileadmin / documents / Workshop4 / 7b _ Europacable _ for _ WP3 _ Workshop _
Technology_Presentation_15_April_2014_c.pdf.
48. Mircea Ardelean and Philip Minnebo, HVDC Submarine Power Cables in the World, JRC Technical
Reports, 2015, http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC97720/
ld-na-27527-en-n.pdf.
49. E. Zaccone, High voltage underground and subsea cable technology options for future transmission in
Europe, presentation at E-Highway2050 WP3 workshop April 15th, 2014 Brussels, 2014, http://www.e-
highway2050 . eu / fileadmin / documents / Workshop4 / 7b _ Europacable _ for _ WP3 _ Workshop _
Technology_Presentation_15_April_2014_c.pdf.
12
Further improvement in voltage and capacity can be expected in the near future. 50
4.1.3 Cross-Linked Poly-Ethylene Cables

Polymeric cables are only used in Voltage Source Converters(VSC) applications that al-
low reversing power flow without reversing the polarity. 51 This technology has mainly
been applied at voltages up to ± 200 kV (in service with a power capacity of 400 MW).
However, recent project such as European TEN-E France - Spain Interconnector (IN-
ELFE) has voltage rating of ± 320 kV and power rating of 1000 MW per cable. 52, 53

• HVDC cables: XLPE
– Transmission Distance: >1000 km 54
– Losses: 27 W/m (21 W/m in future) (Typical losses per circuit (bipole)) 55
– Maximum Voltage: 400-525-640 kV 56 57
Recently 640 kV extruded HVDC cable system has been developed, howe-
ver, mainly for underground applications. 58
– Current rating: 1900 kA 59
– Max Power per VSC substation (bipole): 1524-1710 MW (1710-1895 MW
in future) 60
– Max Power per LCC substation (bipole): 600 MW 61
53. P Labra Francos et al., “INELFE—Europe’s first integrated onshore HVDC interconnection,” in Power
and Energy Society General Meeting, 2012 IEEE (IEEE, 2012), 1–8.
55. Ibid.
56. Ibid.
57. ABB, The new 525 kV extruded HVDC cable system, 2014, https://library.e.abb.com/public
/7caadd110d270de5c1257d3b002ff3ee/The%5C%20new%5C%20525%5C%20kV%5C%20extruded%5C%
20HVDC%5C%20cable%5C%20system%5C%20White%5C%20PaperFINAL.pdf.
58. NKT, 640 kV extruded HVDC cable system, 2017, http : / / www . nkt . de / fileadmin / user _
upload/01_Page_images_global/general_images_pages/About_us/Innovation/640_kV_
extruded_HVDC.pdf.
60. Ibid.
61. Ibid.
13
– Cross-section Area: 2500 mm2 for voltage rating of 320 kV 62
– Deep sea installations: 500 m (1000 m in future) 63
• HVDC cables: MI
– Losses: 10.4 W/m 64
– Maximum Voltage: 600 kV 65
– Current rating: 1555 kA (1950 kA in future) 66
– Max Power per VSC substation (bipole): 1860 MW 67
– Max Power per Line Commutated Converter (LCC) substation (bipole):
1860 MW 68
– Cross-section Area: 2000 mm2 for 300 kV 69
– Deep sea installations: 1600 m (2000 m in future) 70
Europe’s longest interconnector: NordLink project with VSC converters rated at

+/- 525 kV and 1400 MW bipole configuration having route length of 623 km route
length is being built 71

Mature

• HVDC cables: XLPE
– Capex: 1470-1625 ke/ km (Installation costs: 29%) 72
– Opex: 2.9-3.2 ke/km (OPEX assumed at a 0.2% p.a.) 73
62. ENTSO-E, Offshore Transmission Technology, http://www.benelux.int/files/6814/0923/
4514/offshore_grid_technology.pdf.
64. Ibid.
65. Ibid.
66. Ibid.
67. Ibid.
68. Ibid.
69. Northern Pass Project-Diagrams of Cross-Section of Underground Cables, https://energy.go
v / sites / prod / files / 2013 / 08 / f2 / Exhibit \ %203 \ %20 - \ % 20Diagrams \ %20of \ %20Cross -
Section\%20of\%20Underground\%20Cables.pdf.
70. Grid Innovation Online, Technology Database.
71. Magnus Callavik, Peter Lundberg, and O Hansson, “NORDLINK Pioneering VSC-HVDC intercon-
nector between Norway and Germany,” ABB White Paper, 2015,
73. Ibid.
14
– lifespan: >40 years 74
• HVDC cables: MI
– Capex: N/A
– Opex: N/A
– lifespan: >40 years 75
• HVDC cables: Self-Contained Fluid Filled
– Capex: N/A
– Opex: N/A
– lifespan: N/A
Experience of HVDC underground cabling and their cost is currently limited. Ba-
sed on analysis conducted by Realise Grid 76 in 2010, the cost of HVDC underground
cables (two cables, ± 350 kV, 1,100 MW) is between 1 - 2.5 million e/km. Some
estimations of costs for HVDC cables for different cross-sections can be found in some
reports. 77, 78, 79
75. Ibid.
76. EU-FP7 project - REseArch, methodoLogies and technologieS for the effective development of pan-
European key GRID infrastructures to support the achievement of a reliable, competitive and sustainable
electrical supply, http://realisegrid.rse-web.it/.
77. Kalid Yunus, “Steady state analysis of HVDC grid with Wind Power Plants” (PhD diss., Chalmers
University of Technology, 2017).
79. REALISEGRID, D3.3.2 Review of costs of transmission infrastructures, including cross border con-
nections, http://realisegrid.rse- web.it/content/files/File/Publications%5C%20and%
5C%20results/Deliverable_REALISEGRID_3.3.2.pdf.
15
5 AC-DC Converters
All the electricity transmission and distribution networks in the world are based on
AC systems. In order to transmit power from far off OWPP through HVDC cables,
AC power are converted to DC power and vice versa using AC-DC power converters.
Power converters currently available on the market can be classified in two major cate-
gories in terms of technology: Line Commutated Converters(LCC) and Voltage Source
Converter (VSC). 80 Both of these type of technologies can be used in a full HVDC
scheme (AC/DC converter - HVDC line or cable - DC/AC converter) or in a back-to-
back (B2B) HVDC scheme (AC/DC converter - DC circuit - DC/AC converter, with
all these components installed in a single station) or a more recent configuration for
multi-terminal HVDC (MTDC) applications. 81
LCC and VSC have different characteristics and are operated in different manner
because of the intrinsic differences of power electronic components. The characteris-
tics of LCC and VSC are compared in Table 2.
5.1 Line Commutated Converters

5.1.1 Description
LCC or CSC are the conventional, mature and well established power converter techno-
logy which has been used to convert electrical current from AC to DC and vice versa
since early 1950. Such converters require robust AC voltage source at either end.
Multi-terminal LCC connections are possible and exist (two schemes exist). Howe-
ver, larger systems with a more complex structure may not be practical configuration
mainly due to limitations on controllability of LCC converters. 82

• Voltage (line to ground) for converter: 800-1100 kV 83
• Voltage (line to ground) for cables: 550 kV 84

• Current: 4-5 kA (6 kA in future) 85
• Max Power per substation (bipole) : 8-11 GW (upto 13.2 GW in future) 86
81. e-Highway2050, Technology Assessment Report (HVDC) - Annex to D3.1 - Technology Assessment
Report, http://www.e-highway2050.eu/fileadmin/documents/Results/D3/report_HVDC.pdf,
2014.
82. Ibid.
84. Ibid.
85. Ibid.
16
Table 2: Comparison between LCC and VSC
LCC VSC
Background Background
• Also known as Current Source • Since 1999

Converter (CSC) • Contrary to CSC, can also be
• Since early 1950 used for connecting isolated
• Typically uses thyristors networks to the grid, e.g. supply
• Connected by two power networks power from generation sources like
at either side of link WPPs or to remote islands.
• Recent technology, compact
VSC Multilevel Converters have
lower losses
Key characteristics of LCC Key characteristics of VSC
• More powerful • Younger technology

• Low losses • Able of “black start” (i.e. able
• Requires robust networks in to start without additional power
operation on both sides and therefore at either end)
can be preferred technology for • Currently limited in power (in
interconnections of synchronous networks the order of 3000 MW) and voltage
• Requires more space than VSC (up to + 640 kV)
depending on power rating and • More flexible, smaller and lighter
therefore preferred on land and therefore preferable for
• Induces more severe requirements offshore applications.
for cables, therefore cables designed for • Allows independent control of
LCC can also be used for VSC, but not active and reactive power.
vice versa.
• Maximum length of the line: 2000 km 87

• Maximum length of the cable: 580-600 km 88
• Transmission Losses: 0.7-1.1% of rated power per converter station. 89 A conver-
ter station usually contains converters, capacitors or synchronous condensers for
reactive power, filters for harmonic suppression, switch gears, auxillary equip-
ment and transformers.
88. Ibid.
89. Ibid.
17
Mature

• Capex: 101-112 Me/GW (Installation costs: 37% ) 90
• Opex: 2% of investment costs per year 91
• lifetime: 40 years 92
Cost ranges are given per “per terminal" for the typical 1000 MW LCC configuration
at 2013. 93
5.2 Voltage Source Converters

5.2.1 Description
VSC are self-commutated converters using devices suitable for high power and high
voltage applications. This technology can rapidly control both active and reactive po-
wer independently. 94 It allows higher flexibility and controllability to place converters
at different locations in the AC network since no robust AC voltage source is required
to be connected at its end. Although there are some technology challenges that still
needs to be addressed, such as DC breakers, higher powers, losses reduction etc. for
larger deployment in multi-terminal applications. 95

• Voltage (line to ground) for converter: 500-800 kV (1100 kV in future) 96
• Voltage (line to ground) for cables: 500 kV 97
• Current: 1.5-3 kA (3-4 kA in future) 98

• Max Power per substation (bipole) : 2000-4800 MW (6400 MW in future) 99
91. Ibid.
92. Ibid.
93. Ibid.
94. J Duncan Glover, Mulukutla S Sarma, and Thomas Overbye, Power System Analysis & Design, SI
Version (Cengage Learning, 2012).
2014.
97. Ibid.
98. Ibid.
99. Ibid.
18
• Maximum length of the line: 700-2000 km (3000 km in future) 100
• Maximum length of the cable: 400 km 101 (600-1000 km in future) 102
760 km long HVDC interconnector called Viking Link between Denmark and
UK is being proposed. 103
• Transmission Losses: 0.9-1.3% of rated power (0.7-1.1% in future) per conver-
ter station. 104 A converter station usually contains converters, capacitors or syn-
chronous condensers for reactive power, filters for harmonic suppression, switch
gears, auxillary equipment and transformers.

Mature

• Capex: 106-118 ke/MW (Installation costs: 31%) 105
• O&M costs: 2% of investment costs per year 106
• Lifetime: 40 years 107
Cost ranges are given per “per terminal" for typical configuation of a bipolar VSC
terminal of power rating of 1100 MW at 2013. 108 Some estimations of costs for VSC
for different power ratings can be found in some reports as well. 109, 110, 111
5.3 Diode Rectifier Units

5.3.1 Description
The design of diode rectifier unit (DRU) developed from an idea originated at the Uni-
versity of Valencia in Spain, replaces the air-insulated IGBT based traditional converter
101. NordBalt, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NordBalt.
103. Viking Link, http://viking-link.com/.
105. Ibid.
106. Ibid.
107. Ibid.
108. Ibid.
109. Kalid Yunus, “Steady state analysis of HVDC grid with Wind Power Plants” (PhD diss., Chalmers
University of Technology, 2017).
111. REALISEGRID, D3.3.2 Review of costs of transmission infrastructures, including cross border con-
nections, http://realisegrid.rse- web.it/content/files/File/Publications%5C%20and%
5C%20results/Deliverable_REALISEGRID_3.3.2.pdf.
19
and air-insulated DC switch gear — which requires much space and costly air conditi-
oning with diode rectifiers.
For example, a 0.9GW VSC requires 50,000 cubic metres of space. Whereas, DRU
with a 1.2GW rating requires three platforms each with a pair of DRUs converting from
66kV to 106.7kV strung together to add up to 320kV as provided by the VSCs used
today. The three platforms have a total volume of just 6,500 cubic metres, or a nearly
90% volume saving on the VSC platform. 112
DRU are simple, robust, encapsulated and have low losses & low maintenance
costs. However, DRU does not allow bidirectional power flow as compared to VSC
technology. Since WTs need auxiliary power to maintain systems, mainly grid outage;
therefore additional AC cable is needed running parallel to the DC cables from the
onshore network.
AC voltage control is performed by the WTs

• Nominal power: 200 MW 113
• Nominal voltage AC: 66 kV 114

• Nominal voltage DC: 106.7 kV 115
• Size fits for transport by road and ship 116
• Bio degradable and flame retardant ester insulation 117

Future

• Capex: N/A
• Opex: N/A
• lifetime: N/A
112. Sara Knight, Analysis: Siemens’ radical substation plan, News Article - WindPower Offshore, 2015,
http://www.windpoweroffshore.com/article/1338456/analysis-siemens-radical-substa
tion-plan.
114. Ibid.
115. Ibid.
116. Ibid.
117. Ibid.
20
6 DC-DC Converters
6.1 Description
This would be a device to convert one DC voltage to another DC voltage level and have
equivalent function of a transformer in an AC grid. The AC transformer has greatly fa-
cilitated AC transmission systems to operate at different voltage levels (110kV, 220kV,
400kV etc.) optimising the AC grid and its components. The DC equivalent can fulfil
the same function in future HVDC grid also sometimes referred as Supergrid. Unless
the Supergrid is specifically designed to operate at a common DC voltage, DC–DC
converters will be essentially required to combine DC networks at different voltage
levels. 118, 119
There has been some recent standardisation efforts to unify voltage levels and to
avoid the need for DC-DC conversion. However, still different voltage levels may ap-
pear. For example, several different DC voltage levels are already applied for offshore
wind integration in Germany. The fast progress in converter and cable technology also
implies that significantly higher voltages can be foreseen in future. Utilising a standard
voltage would waste future possible benefits from improved future voltage ratings.
There are generally two possibilities to connect two different DC voltage levels:
• With a DC-DC converter
• Through regular 50 Hz AC with an DC-AC converter and an AC-DC converter 120

A DC-DC converter is likely to be cheaper and more efficient than two separate
converters with regular 50Hz AC in between. 121 DC-DC converter also has the advan-
tage to regulate the current or power flow through the converter, which helps to operate
a meshed DC grid. It could even be applied for this purpose only, connecting two buses
of the same voltage level. However, there is other component specialised for this kind
of function called DC current flow controller. 122 123
DC-DC converters topologies can be effectively classified into two groups: 124
• Isolated DC-DC Converters

• Non-isolated DC-DC Converters
2014.
119. Friends of the SuperGrid, Roadmap to the Supergrid Technologies, http://mainstream- downlo
ads.opendebate.co.uk/downloads/WG2_Roadmap_to_the_Supergrid_Technologies_2013_
Final_v2.pdf, 2013.
120. Til Kristian Vrana and Raymundo E Torres Olguin, “Technology perspectives of the North Sea Offs-
hore and storage Network (NSON),” 2015,
121. Ibid.
122. Ibid.
123. CD Barker and RS Whitehouse, “A current flow controller for use in HVDC grids,” in 10th IET Inter-
national Conference on AC and DC Power Transmission (ACDC 2012) (IET, 2012).
21
6.1.1 Isolated DC-DC Converters
In an isolated DC-DC converter, the input and the output port are isolated using gal-
vanic insulation. Isolated DC-DC converter comprises of two AC-DC converters con-
nected to each other by a transformer. Example of possible topology is shown in Figure
4. Main design parameters of an isolated DC-DC converter are switching frequency and
Figure 4: Isolated DC-DC converters

left: Resonant bridge converter; right:Dual active bridge converter 125
AC side frequency. AC side frequency is typically higher than the network nominal fre-
quency (50/60 Hz). Operating in high frequency can allow for significant reduction of
the size and volume of the transformers and components like capacitors and inductors.
However, a higher frequency leads to increased power losses and complex design of
transformer (e.g. amorphous core materials, Litz wires). 126, 127, 128
Availability of DC-DC converter for high power application as market product is
rather limited and studied academically for power ratings spanning from tens of kVs
to a few MWs and with an AC operating frequency in the kHz range using several
topologies. 129, 130, 131, 132, 133
126. Robert L Steigerwald, Rik W De Doncker, and H Kheraluwala, “A comparison of high-power DC-
DC soft-switched converter topologies,” IEEE transactions on industry applications 32, no. 5 (1996): 1139–
1145.
127. Abdelrahman Hagar, “A new family of transformerless modular DC-DC converters for high power
applications” (PhD diss., University of Toronto, 2011).
129. J Taufiq, “Power electronics technologies for railway vehicles,” in Power Conversion Conference-
Nagoya, 2007. PCC’07 (IEEE, 2007), 1388–1393.
130. Liyu Yang et al., “Design and analysis of a 270kW five-level dc/dc converter for solid state transformer
using 10kV SiC power devices,” in Power Electronics Specialists Conference, 2007. PESC 2007. IEEE
(IEEE, 2007), 245–251.
131. Michael Steiner and Harry Reinold, “Medium frequency topology in railway applications,” in Power
Electronics and Applications, 2007 European Conference on (IEEE, 2007), 1–10.
132. G Ortiz et al., “1 Megawatt, 20 kHz, isolated, bidirectional 12kV to 1.2 kV DC-DC converter for
renewable energy applications,” in Power Electronics Conference (IPEC), 2010 International (IEEE, 2010),
3212–3219.
133. Stephan Meier et al., “Design considerations for medium-frequency power transformers in offshore
wind farms,” in Power Electronics and Applications, 2009. EPE’09. 13th European Conference on (IEEE,
2009), 1–12.
22
6.1.2 Non-Isolated DC-DC Converters
Non-isolated DC-DC converters are structurally simpler, cheaper and smaller than iso-
lated converters. 134, 135 Two topologies are shown as an example in Figure 5. However,
these converters are only capable of achieving a limited voltage ratio, which reduces
the scope of application for these types of converters.
Figure 5: Non-isolated DC-DC converters 136

left: Bidirectional high-power DC transformer 137 ; right:Modular multi-level capacitor-
clamped DC-DC converter 138
Classical DC-DC converter configurations such as buck, boost, cuk are not suitable
for high power applications since they require large duty cycles at higher conversion
ratio which lead to low efficiency and reliability. There are some proposals in the litera-
ture, for example a switched capacitor multilevel DC-DC converter has been proposed
by Zhang et. al. 139 and Vrana et. al. 140 A main limitation lies in terms of lack of
bidirectional power and modularity. 141, 142 Modular multilevel capacitor clamped con-
verters are proposed by Vrana et. al. 143 and Khan & Tolbert 144 Although modular
multilevel capacitor clamped converter has advantage of modular design, bidirectio-
nal and high frequency operation and low current ripple at input and output; but it
has major drawback in terms of unequal voltage stress at the switches. 145, 146 Anot-
137. Dragan Jovcic, “Bidirectional, high-power DC transformer,” IEEE transactions on Power Delivery 24,
no. 4 (2009): 2276–2283.
138. Faisal H Khan and Leon M Tolbert, “A multilevel modular capacitor-clamped DC–DC converter,”
IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications 43, no. 6 (2007): 1628–1638.
139. Fan Zhang et al., “A new design method for high-power high-efficiency switched-capacitor DC–DC
converters,” IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics 23, no. 2 (2008): 832–840.
143. Ibid.
144. Faisal H Khan and Leon M Tolbert, “A multilevel modular capacitor-clamped DC–DC converter,”
IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications 43, no. 6 (2007): 1628–1638.
23
her interesting topology is soft-switched transformer-less topologies using thyristors.
However, expensive large resonant capacitor is needed for this kind of technology. 147

N/A

Distant future

• Capex: N/A
• Opex: N/A
• lifetime: N/A

24
7 Filters
Large OWPPs consist many non-linear devices such as power electronic devices in
wind turbines, FACTS devices and/or HVDC transmission and other passive compo-
nents such as cable arrays, transformers, transmission cables etc. Consequently, there
are many harmonic generation sources. 148 Bradt et. al. 149 summarize the most impor-
tant issues with respect to harmonics and resonances within wind power plants.
Primarily there are two ways to mitigate harmonics in WPPs: (i) avoiding harmo-
nic resonance and emission by appropriate design (ii) use of harmonic filters. A good
design can avoid high levels of harmonic voltages or currents through system layout,
component selection and tuning of controller parameters. Both passive and active har-
monic filtering can be used for harmonic mitigation. Passive filter technology is the
state-of-the-art technology. Passive filter requires extensive system knowledge during
the WPP design, which is very complex process since, there are many uncertainties
involved in this process.
Although active and hybrid filters have been commonly used for harmonic filtering
in many other industrial applications, however they have not been so common practice
in WPP applications. Passive filters are more common for WT level and on the sy-
stem level, e.g. point of common coupling (PCC). A major challenge for passive filter
is that resonance can occur due to natural frequency matching with line impedance.
Active filters have recently being introduced more and more for WTs as well, with the
development of semiconductor devices and improvement of current control strategies.
7.1 Passive Filter

7.1.1 Description
Passive filters consist of a bank of tuned LC filters and/or low-pass/high-pass filter.
They have been very popular owing to low initial cost and high efficiency. They have
following disadvantages: 150
• Filtering is strongly dependent on source impedance.

• Harmonic currents on the source side can drastically increase at certain frequen-
cies owing to parallel resonance between source and passive filter.
• Similarly, excessive harmonic currents can flow into the passive filter due to
series resonance with source impedance. 151
148. Vladislav Akhmatov, Jørgen Nygaard Nielsen, Jan Thisted, et al., “Siemens Wind Power 3.6 MW wind
turbines for large offshore wind farms,” in Proc. 7th International Workshop on Large Scale Integration of
Wind Power and on Transmission Networks for Offshore Wind Farms (Energynautics GmbH, 2008), 494–
497.
149. M Bradt et al., “Harmonics and resonance issues in wind power plants,” in Transmission and Distribu-
tion Conference and Exposition (T&D), 2012 IEEE PES (IEEE, 2012), 1–8.
150. Hideaki Fujita and Hirofumi Akagi, “A practical approach to harmonic compensation in power
systems-series connection of passive and active filters,” IEEE Transactions on industry applications 27,
no. 6 (1991): 1020–1025.
25
• Voltage : 550 kV 152
• Power : >3 Mvar 153

Mature

• Capex: N/A
• Opex: N/A
• lifetime: N/A
7.2 Active Filter

7.2.1 Description
With improvement of technology and reducing costs of semiconductor switching devi-
ces such as GTO, thyristors and IGBT, active filters are becoming more practical choice
for harmonics mitigation.They consist of voltage-source or current-source PWM inver-
ters and have the ability to overcome the inherent disadvantages in passive filters. 154, 155
Active dc filter of an HVDC Transmission was first demonstrated by a test installa-
tion in 1991 at Lindome station of the Konti-Skan HVDC link. First commercial active
dc filter was installed in 1993 at the Skagerrak 3 HVDC Intertie which was followed
by Baltic Cable HVDC Link in 1994, Chandrapur-Padghe HVDC Power Transmission
in 1998, “Tiang-Guang Long Distance HVDC Project" in 2000 and at the “EGAT-TNB
HVDC Interconnection" in 2001. 156
Active DC filter is basically a hybrid filter which consists of mainly two parts:
a passive part and an active part. The passive part generally comprises of a double
tuned passive filter which connects the active part with the DC line. 157 The active part
consists of the following as shown in Figure 6: 158
no. 6 (1991): 1020–1025.
152. ABB, Harmonic filters CHARM, http : / / new . abb . com / high - voltage / capacitors / hv /
harmonic-filters.
153. Ibid.
154. Bhim Singh, Kamal Al-Haddad, and Ambrish Chandra, “A review of active filters for power quality
improvement,” IEEE transactions on industrial electronics 46, no. 5 (1999): 960–971.
no. 6 (1991): 1020–1025.
156. Stefan Gunnarsson, Lin Jiang, and Anders Petersson, “Active filters in HVDC transmissions,” in Pro-
ceedings of the 40th Session Regular Meeting of the CIGRÉ Study Committee B4–HVDC and Power Elec-
tronics Equipments (2009).
157. CIGRE Brochure, Active Filters in HVDC Applications, 2003.
158. Ibid.
26
• Current transducer: The main function of the current transducer is to measure
current
• Control system: The control system circuitry has the main function to control
the active DC filter to create virtually a low impedance path between the pole
and electrode lines (or ground, depending on the configuration of the system) at
the chosen harmonic frequencies.
• Amplifier: To amplify the control signal voltage in the range of 300 to 1000 V
• Transformer:To increase the amplified voltage further above 3 kV
• Protection Circuit and arrester: The protection circuit protects the amplifier by
limiting the currents and voltages.
• Bypass switch and disconnectors: Bypass switch and disconnectors allows to re-
pair and maintain the active part without taking the HVDC link out of operation.
The active part in the DC filter is defined as the components within the box shown
in Figure 6 .159
Figure 6: Filter components in the active filter 160

27
• Active DC filter
– Voltage : 500 kV (Chandrapur-Padghe HVDC power transmission project),

450 kV (Baltic Cable HVDC Link)
– Filtering frequency range : 350-2500 Hz (Chandrapur-Padghe HVDC po-
wer transmission project), 300-3000 Hz (Baltic Cable HVDC Link)

Mature

• Capex: N/A
• Opex: N/A
• lifetime: N/A
28
8 Reactive Compensation
Reactive power compensation in power systems can be catogorized either as shunt
compensation or series compensation.
8.1 Shunt Compensation

8.1.1 Description
Power transmission capacity can be increased and the voltage profile along the line
can be controlled by reactive shunt compensation. 161 Shunt reactors are applied to
minimize line overvoltage due to capacitive effect of the line under light load conditions
and shunt capacitors are applied to maintain voltage levels under heavy load conditions
by minimizing the inductive effect of the line. 162
Static Var Compensator (SVC) and Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM)
are variable static reactive power(called as var) generators, whose output is varied to
maintain the voltage as per the requirement of power systems. A static (var) genera-
tor of controlled reactive impedance type is made of thyristor-controlled and switched
reactors and capacitors. A synchronous voltage source var Compensator employs a
switching power converter, while a hybrid type can employ a combination of these
elements. The operating principles of all these var generators are different from each
other with varying V-I characteristics, loss vs. var output characteristics, speed of re-
sponse, attainable frequency bandwidth, etc. However, their functionality is similar
in providing the controllable reactive shunt compensation within their linear operating
range.

• SVC
– Voltage (line to ground) for converters : 765 kV (Voltage depending on

interfacing power transformers) 163
– Dynamic Reactive power : -300/+600 MVAr (Based on need from grid
studies) 164
– Current : 4-5 kA per branch 165
– losses per converter station : 1.5-2 % of the rated power 166
• STATCOM
161. Yong-Hua Song and Allan Johns, Flexible ac transmission systems (FACTS), 30 (IET, 1999).
162. Narain G Hingorani and Laszlo Gyugyi, Understanding FACTS (IEEE press, 2000).
164. Ibid.
165. Ibid.
166. Ibid.
29
– Voltage (line to ground) for converters : 765 kV (Voltage depending on
interfacing power transformers) 167
– Dynamic Reactive power : -200/+200 MVAr (Depending on need from grid
studies; can be offset by a combined solution with fixed capacitor banks or
thyristor controlled capacitor banks) 168
– Current : 2-3 kA per branch 169
– losses per converter station : 1.5-2 % of the rated power 170

Mature

• SVC
– Capex : 30-50 ke/MVAR (Average investment cost ranges for a SVC at
2013, rating: 100-850 MVAR/MVA; 400 kV) 171
– Opex: N/A
– Lifetime : 40 years 172
• STATCOM
– Capex : 50-75 ke/MVAR (Average investment cost ranges for a STAT-
COM at 2013, rating: 100-400 MVAR/MVA; 400 kV) 173
– Opex: N/A
8.2 Series Compensation

8.2.1 Description
The main purpose of shunt compensation as mentioned in the previous subsection is to
maintain the desired voltage profile along the transmission line and providing support
to the end voltage of radial lines in the face of increasing power demand. 175 However,
shunt compensation is not controllable in order to control the actual transmitted power
through a transmission line which is ultimately determined by the series line impedance
and the angle between the end voltages of line. 176
168. Ibid.
169. Ibid.
170. Ibid.
171. Ibid.
172. Ibid.
173. Ibid.
174. Ibid.
176. Ibid.
30
Power transmitted over a long transmission line is limited by the series reactive
impedance of the line. Series capacitive compensation can be introduced in the line to
cancel a portion of the reactive line impedance and thereby increase the transmittable
power. Within this functionality, variable series compensation is highly effective in
both controlling power flow in the line and in improving grid stability. 177
Fixed Series Capacitor and Thyristor Controlled Series Compensation (TCSC) are
most commonly used technology for series compensation.

• Fixed Series Capacitor
– Voltage (line to ground) for converters : 765 kV 178

– Rated Reactive Power : 1350 MVAr 179
– losses : negligible 180
• TCSC
– System voltage: 400-550 kV 181
– Rated continuous current: 1500 A 182
– Rated overall power: 493 Mvar
– Degree of compensation:
* Total: 70 %
* Thyristor controlled: 21 %

Mature

• Fixed Series Capacitor
– Capex : 10-20 ke/MVAR (Average investment cost ranges for a FSC at

2013, rating: 100-1000 MVAR/MVA; 400 kV) 183
– Opex: N/A
179. Ibid.
180. Ibid.
181. IRENE-40.eu, IRENE-40 Technology Database, http://database.irene40.eu/.
182. ABB, Thyristor controlled series compensation, http : / / new . abb . com / facts / thyristor -
controlled-series-compensation.
31
• TCSC
– Capex : N/A
– Opex: N/A
– Lifetime : N/A
32
9 Transformers
9.1 Description
Transformer technology has been invented more than hundred years ago but the basic
operating, physical and design principles of transformers are quite the same even today.
Although the technology has improved significantly resulting in increased efficiency,
higher power rating, reduced weight, decreased dimensions, and reducing costs. Tra-
ditionally, the loads are located at farther distance away from the generation plants.
Therefore, voltage needs to be increased substantially to transmit large volume of po-
wer over long distances.
The main purpose of transformer is to increase the output voltage resulting in redu-
ced losses, increased transmission capacity, reduced copper/alumunium requirements
etc. Transformers are very widely used in AC power system and design of transformer
depends on application, operating voltage level and rated power. Transformers can be
broadly categorized into 2 groups based on their application in power transmission and
distribution:
• Power transformer for transmitting power over long distances at high voltages
• Distribution transformer for distributing power to consumers at medium and low
voltage levels
Mainly power transformers are considered in this section based on the scope of this
catalogue. Depending on applications power transformers can be further categorized
into many types such as Generator step-up (GSU) transformer, Step-down transfor-
mer, HVDC Converter transformer, Phase shifting transformer (PST), System intertie
transformer etc.
Generator step-up (GSU) transformers, as name suggests, are installed in genera-
ting substations and used to increase the voltages in order to transmit over long distan-
ces. These kind of transformers are generally operated at full load day and night. 185
As discussed in previous section that HVDC technology is cost-effective and more ef-
ficient to transmit large volume of power over large distances. System intertie transfor-
mers are generally equipped with on-load-tap changers (OLTC) and used to reduce the
incoming transmission high voltages to medium voltages. 186 HVDC converter trans-
former connects AC grid and high power converter making the voltage suitable for the
converter. It also acts as isolator for the converter from grid faults. 187, 188
Highest transmission voltage for HVDC has been constantly increasing. For exam-
ple, ABB has developed Ultra-High Voltage Direct Current converter transformer of
185. ABB, Generator step-up transformers (GSU), http://new.abb.com/products/transformers/
power/generator-step-up.
186. ABB, System intertie transformers, http://new.abb.com/products/transformers/power/
system-intertie-transformers.
187. ABB, HVDC converter transformers, http://new.abb.com/products/transformers/power/
hvdc-converter.
188. SIEMENS, HVDC Transformers, https://www.energy.siemens.com/hq/en/power-transmis
sion/transformers/hvdc-transformers/hvdc-transformers.htm\#content=Description.
33
voltage rating of 1100 kV that allows the HVDC to transmit power up to 10000 MW
over distances as long as 3000 km. 189

• Voltage (line to ground): 765 kV (Typical up to 400kV. 765kV technically pos-
sible.) 190
• Current: 10 kA (Not a limiting factor in power systems. Design of short circuit
currents up to 40kA available.) 191
• Max Power per unit: Technical capability - 1630 MVA 192

Please note that maximum power (or current) is not a limiting factor, rather trans-
port capability of the cable dictates the size of the transformer.
A typical 765 kV transformers have power rating close to 800 MVA.
• Losses per unit: 0.2-0.4% of rated power 193

Mature

• Capex: 60 Me 194
• Opex: N/A
• lifetime: 40 years
189. e-Highway2050, D3.2 - Technology innovation needs, http://www.e-highway2050.eu/fileadm

in/documents/Results/D3.2_Technology_innovation_needs_20151202.pdf, 2015.
191. Ibid.
192. Ibid.
193. Ibid.
194. Ioannis Konstantelos et al., “Integrated North Sea grids: The costs, the benefits and their distribution
between countries,” Energy Policy 101 (2017): 28–41.
34
10 Offshore Substructures
10.1 Description
Offshore substructures and foundation technology which lies below the water level is
chosen based on multiple site conditions and platform properties. The most relevant
site conditions are water depth, wave heights/transparency, sensitivity to the soil and
water currents. The main relevant platform properties are size and vertical/horizontal
weight. 195 Selection is based on structural analysis and cost-benefit analysis.
Although the substructures can be classified based on many criteria, they are clas-
sified into six basic types in this report and shown in Figure 7.
Figure 7: Offshore wind turbine foundations 196
• Monopiles
• Tripods
• Tripiles
• Jackets
• Gravity foundations
• Floating foundations
Figure 8 shows the share of substructures for offshore wind farms based on data until
end of 2012. 197 It can be seen that monopile substructures constitute most of the pro-
portion. However, monopiles are more favoured technology for shallow water with
196. Paraic Higgins and Aoife Foley, “The evolution of offshore wind power in the United Kingdom,”
Renewable and sustainable energy reviews 37 (2014): 599–612.
197. European Wind Energy Association(EWEA), Deep water. the next step for offshore wind energy, http:
//www.ewea.org/fileadmin/files/library/publications/reports/Deep_Water.pdf, 2013.
35
typical water depth less than 30 m. As can be seen from Figure 9, 198 all the online
wind farms in this considered dataset belongs to offshore locations with water depth
less than 30 m. As wind farms are moving far offshore and deeper waters, other techno-
logies such as gravity, jacket and floating foundations are becoming more relevant.
Figure 8: Share of substructures for online offshore wind farms based on data until end
of 2012 199
Figure 9: Water depth vs. distance to shore for offshore wind farms based on data until
end of 2012 200
198. European Wind Energy Association(EWEA), Deep water. the next step for offshore wind energy, http:
//www.ewea.org/fileadmin/files/library/publications/reports/Deep_Water.pdf, 2013.
199. European Wind Energy Association(EWEA), Deep water. the next step for offshore wind energy,
http://www.ewea.org/fileadmin/files/library/publications/reports/Deep_Water.pdf,
2013.
200. European Wind Energy Association(EWEA), Deep water. the next step for offshore wind energy,
http://www.ewea.org/fileadmin/files/library/publications/reports/Deep_Water.pdf,
2013.
36
10.1.1 Monopile Substructures
Monopile substructures comprise for most of all substructures of the European opera-
ting wind farms. 201 The monopile needs to be drilled down into the seabed. 202 Mono-
piles are easy to install in shallow to medium water depths. This type of structure is
well suited for sites with water depth ranging from 0-35m. 203 Advantages of mono-
pile foundation lies in its simplicity, light weight and versatility. However, it can be
expensive for large size installations such as for converter substation platform. Decisi-
ons on monopiles should be made on cost-benefit analysis. This type of installation is
also difficult to remove. 204, 205 Recently, monopiles with bigger diameter called XXL
monopiles are being considered as viable alternative to jacket substructures for deeper
water installations. 206 World’s heaviest monopile of 7.8 m of diameter and weight of
1302.5 t is used in Veja Mate offshore wind farm. 207 Research is even ongoing for
applying monopile technology to as deep as 50 m. 208
10.1.2 Tripod Substructures

The tripod structure is standard lightweight three-legged structure made of cylindrical
steel tubes. It consists of a central steel column between the turbine and a steel frame.
This central shaft transfers the forces from the tower into three vertical or inclined steel
piles. These piles are driven 10-20m into the seabed. 209 In order to make it suitable for
actual environmental and soil conditions, base width and pile penetration depth of this
substructure can be adjusted. This type of structure is generally suitable for water depth
of 20-50 m. This type of substructure has good stability and overall stiffness. 210, 211
This type of structure are suitable for most conditions but deep soft material. It
is quite rigid and versatile. However, this type of construction and installation are
201. C Wolter et al., “Overplanting in offshore wind power plants in different regulatory regimes,” in proc.
15th International Workshop on large scale integration of wind power into power systems (2016).
202. Mark J Kaiser and Brian F Snyder, “Offshore Wind Energy System Components,” in Offshore Wind
Energy Cost Modeling (Springer, 2012), 13–30.
203. Y (Ed.) Garbatov and C (Ed.) Guedes Soares, Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures
(CRC Press, London, 2017).
204. Monopiles Support Structures, http://www.4coffshore.com/windfarms/monopiles-support
-structures-aid4.html.
205. International Renewable Energy Agency(Irena), Renewable energy technologies: Cost analysis series,
https://www.irena.org/DocumentDownloads/Publications/RE_Technologies_Cost_Analysi
s-WIND_POWER.pdf, 2012.
206. Vicente Negro et al., “Monopiles in offshore wind: Preliminary estimate of main dimensions,” Ocean
Engineering 133 (2017): 253–261.
207. Offshore Wind Industry, EEW has produced the world’s heaviest Monopile, http://www.offshore
windindustry.com/news/eew-produced-worlds-heaviest-monopile.
208. Njomo Wandji Wilfried, Anand Natarajan, and Nikolay Dimitrov, “Influence of model parameters on
the design of large diameter monopiles for multi megawatt offshore wind turbines at 50 m water depths,”
Wind Energy, 2018,
209. L Chen, WH Lam, and AH Shamsuddin, “Potential scour for marine current turbines based on expe-
rience of offshore wind turbine,” in IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, vol. 16, 1
(IOP Publishing, 2013), 012057.
210. Tripod Support Structures, http : / / www . 4coffshore . com / windfarms / tripod - support -
structures-aid7.html.
211. DNV, Design of Offshore Wind Turbine Structures, https://rules.dnvgl.com/docs/pdf/DNV/
codes/docs/2014-05/Os-J101.pdf, 2014.
37
expensive and difficult to remove. 212
10.1.3 Tripile Substructures

The tripile structure is also called jacket-monopile hybrid structure. As name suggests,
this kind of structure has a three-legged jacket structure in the lower section which is
then connected to a monopile in the upper part of the water column (made of cylindrical
steel tubes). In order to make it suitable for actual soil conditions, base width and pile
penetration depth of the tripile substructures can be adjusted. This type of structure is
generally suitable for water depth of 20-50 m. 213, 214
This type of technology has been used at BARD Offshore 1 wind farm. 215
10.1.4 Jacket Substructures

Jacket substructures are made of a truss frame which consists of many tubular members
welded together. In order to secure the structure from lateral forces, piling is driven
through each leg of the jacket into the seabed (or through skirt piles at the bottom of
the foundation). 216
Jacket foundations have been applied to wind turbines in the Alpha Ventus offshore
wind farm and for converter platform in 400 MW BorWin1 converter which weighs
3200 tons.
10.1.5 Gravity substructures

Gravity based structures are made of concrete structures (often filled with gravel, sand,
iron ore and/or stones to increase weight and stability) which can be constructed with
or without small steel or concrete skirts. This type of structure uses its weight to resist
wind and wave loading. In order to make it suitable for actual soil conditions, base
width can be adjusted. 217
Concrete gravity based structures are virtually suitable for all soil conditions. It has
advantage of allowing float-out installation. It can be expensive because of weight. 218
Steel gravity based structures are virtually suitable for all soil conditions but pre-
ferable for deeper water than concrete based. It has advantage of being lighter than
concrete based which also allows easier transportation and installation. However, it
214. Tripile Support Structures, http : / / www . 4coffshore . com / windfarms / tripile - support -
215. Ibid.
38
can be expensive in an erosion prone region mainly because of additional requirement
of cathodic protection system. 219
10.1.6 Floating Substructures

Since the cost of all bottom-fixed foundations increases more than linear with water
depth, floating foundation can be a better choice than bottom-fixed foundations at deep
waters. 220 The break-even-point of water depth is unclear yet, mostly due to limited
experience with floating foundations. It has some degrees of freedom for movement,
but it is held in place by an anchoring system.
When considering floating foundations for electrical installations, one important
restriction has to be regarded: Floating electrical installations usually cannot be con-
nected to MI-type power cables, as those are not flexible enough to cope with the
movements of floating structures. 221
It has the advantage of inexpensive foundation construction. Further, the structure
being non-rigid, it is susceptible to lower wave loads. However, disadvantage of this
type of foundation lies in higher mooring and platform cost. Also, this kind of founda-
tion excludes fishing and navigation from areas of wind farm. 222

• Monopile Foundation
– Sea Depth : 0 - 30 m .223 Mega(XXL) monopiles: upto 45-50 m 224
• Tripod Foundations
– Sea Depth : > 6-7 m 225 (Typically 20-50 m)
• Tripile Foundations
– Sea Depth : 25-40 m 226
• Jacket Foundation
221. Ibid.
223. Monopiles Support Structures, http://www.4coffshore.com/windfarms/monopiles-support
-structures-aid4.html.
224. Steelwind Nordenham, http://www.steelwind-nordenham.de/steelwind/produkte/megamo
nopiles/index.shtml.en.
225. Tripod Support Structures, http : / / www . 4coffshore . com / windfarms / tripod - support -
226. Tripile Support Structures, http : / / www . 4coffshore . com / windfarms / tripile - support -
39
– Sea Depth : 20-50 m 227
• Gravity Foundation
– Sea Depth : 0-25 m 228
• Floating Foundation
– Sea Depth : <40 m 229

• Monopile Foundation
Mature
• Tripod Foundation
Mature
• Tripile Foundation
Mature
• Jacket Foundation
Mature
• Gravity Foundation
Mature
• Floating Foundation
Young/Shortly Coming
A pilot turbine called Hywind was placed in waters off Norway in 2009. The
foundation consists of an 8.3 m diameter, 100 m long submerged cylinder secu-
red to the seabed by three mooring cables. Another pilot project in the wind in-
dustry is Blue H which consists of a two blade turbine placed on top of a buoyant,
semi-submerged steel structure attached to a counterweight on the seabed. 230
227. M Esteban et al., “Foundations for offshore wind farms,” in Proceedings of the 12th International
Conference on Environmental Science and Technology, Rhodes, Greece (2011), 516–523.
228. Ibid.
229. Ibid.
40
• Wind Turbine Platform
– Capex: Cost depends on water depth, environment and soil condition. Fi-
gure 10 shows Monopiles and Jacket foundation costs expressed for diffe-
rent water depths.
Figure 10: Monopile and jacket foundation costs for an 8 MW Wind Turbine 231
• Converter Platform
– Capex: N/A
– Opex: N/A
– lifetime: N/A
231. C Wolter et al., “Overplanting in offshore wind power plants in different regulatory regimes,” in proc.
15th International Workshop on large scale integration of wind power into power systems (2016).
41
11 Protection Equipment
11.1 AC Circuit Breaker
11.1.1 Description
Circuit breakers are the central part of air-insulated (AIS) and gas-insulated (GIS) swit-
chgear which are used to disconnect feeders when faults are detected. High-voltage
circuit breakers are mechanical switching devices which carry the nominal current in
closed position and break current circuits (operating currents and fault currents). 232
High-voltage breakers can be categorized based on the medium used to extinguish
the arc as follows:
• Bulk oil
• Minimum oil
• Air blast
• Vacuum
• SF6
• CO2
Due to environmental and cost concerns over insulating oil spills, SF6 based cir-
cuit breakers are mostly used in recent times. 233 High-voltage AC circuit breakers are
routinely available with ratings up to 765 kV. 234 1200 kV breakers were launched by
Siemens in November 2011, followed by ABB in April the following year.

• Voltage (line to ground): upto 800kV (Typical up to 400kV. 800kV technically
possible.) 235
• Current: 80 kA 236
• Reliability (per unit): >99.9% 237

• Losses per unit: ≈ 0 238
232. Siemens, Circuit Breakers, https://www.energy.siemens.com/us/en/power-transmission/
high-voltage-products/circuit-breaker/sf6-hv-circuitbreaker-dtc.htm.
233. Yoshihiko Matsui et al., “Development and technology of high voltage VCBs; Breaf history and state
of art,” in Discharges and Electrical Insulation in Vacuum, 2006. ISDEIV’06. International Symposium on,
vol. 1 (IEEE, 2006), 253–256.
234. Mohd Hasan Ali, Wind energy systems: solutions for power quality and stabilization (CRC Press,
2012).
236. Ibid.
237. Ibid.
238. Ibid.
42
Mature

• Capex: N/A
• Opex: N/A
• lifetime: 8000-10000 operations per unit
11.2 DC Circuit Breaker

11.2.1 Description
In future HVDC grids, DC breakers will be needed to isolate faulty parts of the grid
during earth faults whereas, other kinds of faults can be handled by converters or slower
DC switches depending on the fault. Generally, DC breakers require to quench fault
currents with very fast rising times since DC circuits operate without a natural zero
crossing current as compared to AC circuits.
Electronic breakers are capable of operating very fast but have relatively high on-
state losses. While a hybrid DC breaker has a mechanical bypass path to reduce the
losses to near zero (60 kW at 320 kV DC) while maintaining clearance time. 239
Power electronic based DC breakers consists of only semiconductor-based swit-
ches. When switches are turned off to break the current, the magnetic energy stored in
inductance within the circuit, oppose sudden change in current, resulting in commuta-
ting the current into a means of energy dissipation. 240
The advantages of power electronic HVDC circuit breakers are as follows: 241
• Fast operation
• Low maintenance due to absence of moving parts

• Modular design
• Increased redundancy
• Almost no limitation on number of operations
• Fast reclose
• Requirement for series inductance can be reduced due to faster response
• Lower current turn-off capability required for semiconductor switches
2014.
240. CIGRE Brochure, Technical Requirements and specifications of state-of-the-art HVDC switching
equipment, 2017.
241. Ibid.
43
The disadvantages of power electronic HVDC circuit breakers are as follows: 242
• High on-state losses
• Sensitivity of semiconductor devices
• Minimal overcurrent and overvoltage capacity
• No galvanic isolation (without additional equipment)

• Cooling requirements
• Expensive
The hybrid DC circuit breaker is a combination of mechanical and power electro-

nic switches. Hybrid DC circuit breaker has superior steady state and dynamic perfor-
mance than power electronic DC circuit breaker.
The advantages of hybrid HVDC circuit breakers are as follows: 243
• Low conduction losses
• Can withstand very high currents in closed position

• Very low leakage current and can withstand high-voltage in open position
The disadvantages of hybrid HVDC circuit breakers are as follows: 244
• Slower operation than power electronic circuit breaker

• Mechanical wear and maintenance required because of moving mechanical parts

N/A

Future
Although manufacturers like ABB and Siemens have developed and tested DC cir-
cuit breakers for HVDC applications, however there has not been any practical imple-
mentation of these technologies. 245, 246
242. CIGRE Brochure, Technical Requirements and specifications of state-of-the-art HVDC switching
equipment, 2017.
243. Ibid.
244. Ibid.
245. ABB, ABB’s Hybrid HVDC Circuit Breaker, http://new.abb.com/grid/events/cigre2014/
hvdc-breaker.
246. Siemens, DC commutation breaker successfully tested in 5000-A HVDC system in China, https :
//www.siemens.com/press/en/pressrelease/?press=/en/pressrelease/2015/energymanage
ment/pr2015010107emen.htm&content[]=EM.
44
• Capex: N/A
Since there is no practical implementation till date, it is hard to estimate/assume
cost of DC breakers, but it can be expected to be in the range of tens of million
euros.
• Opex: N/A
• lifetime: N/A
11.3 Fault Current Limiter

11.3.1 Description
Fault current limiters (FCL) as name suggests, are devices used to limit the fault current
to acceptable levels. These devices are generally applied in AC systems, but some
concepts can also be used for DC systems. For AC systems, there are two general
types of FCLs- Resistance based or Reactance based. 247
The reactance based concept cannot directly be used in DC systems while resistance
based concept is similar for DC and AC systems. Generally, non-linear properties are
desired for FCLs, in order to have more impact on fault-operation as compared to
normal operation. However, linear components can also be used for limiting the fault
current. 248
Different types of FCL are as follows: 249
• Inductors
• Polymeric Positive Temperature Coefficient Resistor-based FCL
• Liquid Metal FCL

• Superconductive FCL

• 10 MVA Key Parameters 250
– Line Voltage : 11kV, 50Hz, 3-ph
– Nominal load current (power through) : 525 A rms (10MVA)
– Prospective fault current : 5.34kA rms, 13.6kA peak
– Limited fault current 2.22kA rms, 9.13kA peak
248. Ibid.
249. Ibid.
250. Pannu,Mohinder and Valent,Yoram and Garbi,Uri, “Saturated Core Fault Current Limiters: successful
testing/service performance,” Transformers Magazine 2, no. 4 (2015): 78–86.
45
– Fault current reduction (clipping) : 58% of steady state rms (33% of first
peak)
– Tested fault withstand duration : 3 seconds
– Recovery from fault to normal load : Instantaneous (less than 1msec)
– CB reclosing : Fully tested w/ 500 msec dead zone between faults
– Voltage drop during normal operation : 0.8-2%
– Power frequency voltage withstand : 28kV
– Lightning impulse withstand : 75kV

Mature

• Capex: N/A
• Opex: N/A
• lifetime: N/A
46
12 Auxiliary Equipment
12.1 Tapping equipment
12.1.1 Description
Tapping converter is connected to a point to point connection somewhere along the line
or cable and used as ‘tap’ to supply a small load that is typically an auxiliary equipment
required for operation of the system. It has much lower power rating compared to the
main power rating of the HVDC scheme which it is connected to. 251

N/A

Distant future

• Capex: N/A
• Opex: N/A
• lifetime: N/A
12.2 Supervisory, control and data acquisition (SCADA)

12.2.1 Description
A vital element of the wind farm is the SCADA system. This system acts as a ‘nerve
centre’ for the project by connecting the individual turbines, the substation and me-
teorological stations to a central computer for monitoring and control. The SCADA
computer communicates with the turbines via optical fibre based communications net-
work. It allows the operator to supervise the behaviour of all the wind turbines and also
the wind farm as a whole. It also records energy output, availability and error signals,
which can help in planning, maintenance, warranty calculations etc. 252 SCADA also
allows to operate the wind farm in different operational modes based on network requi-
rements such as frequency control, voltage control, power curtailment, reactive power
support etc.
2014.
252. European Wind Energy Association et al., Wind energy-the facts: a guide to the technology, economics
and future of wind power (Routledge, 2012).
47
Compliance with IEC 61400-25 standard for wind turbines

Mature

• Capex: N/A
• Opex: N/A
• lifetime: N/A
48
13 Summary
The main components needed for the development of an offshore grid are available to-
day. The main uncertainty, in terms of components, is the availability, cost and techni-
cal maturity of the DC breakers, which are needed in the case of a meshed grid design.
However, there are ways around it, mainly by using a modular grid design, where each
sub-grid is below the N-1 single outage contingency limit in the different synchronous
areas .253 Nevertheless, at this point it is rather safe to assume that full scale DC brea-
kers will be tested and operated by a time horizon of 2030.
• Table 3 summarizes the stages of development for all the technologies.
• Table 4 summarizes the costs and lifetime for all the technologies.
253. K Bell et al., Deliverable 15.2, TWENTIES project, Technical and economic impact analysis of the
demonstrations in TF2, http://orbit.dtu.dk/fedora/objects/orbit:129857/datastreams/
file_0b45a5d2-e062-489e-8cfe-2401e55e4da4/content, 2013.
49
Table 3: Stages of development for different components
Components Mature Young Future Distant-Future

Wind Turbines x
XLPE-HVAC Cables x
HTS-HVAC Cables x
XLPE-HVDC Cables x
MI-HVDC Cables x
SFF-HVDC Cables x
LCC converters x
VSC converters x
DRU converters x
DC/DC converters x
Passive Filter x
Active Filter x
SVC x
STATCOM x
Fixed Series Capacitor x
TCSC x
Transformers x
Monopile Foundations x
Tripod Foundations x
Tripiles Foundations x
Jacket Foundations x
Gravity Foundation x
Floating Foundation x
AC Circuit Breaker x
DC Circuit Breaker x
Fault Current Limiter x
Tapping Equipment x
SCADA x
50
Table 4: Costs and lifetime for different components
Components CAPEX OPEX Lifetime

Wind Turbines 1.5k-2.5k US$/kW N/A 25 yrs
XLPE-HVAC Cables 3675-4062 ke/km 7.3-8.1 N/A
ke/km
HTS-HVAC Cables N/A N/A N/A
XLPE-HVDC Cables 1470-1625 ke/km 2.9-3.2 >40 yrs
ke/km
MI-HVDC Cables N/A N/A >40 yrs
SFF-HVDC Cables N/A N/A N/A
LCC converters 101-112 Me/GW 2% 40 yrs
VSC converters 106-118 ke/MW 2% 40 yrs
DRU converters N/A N/A N/A
DC/DC converters N/A N/A N/A
Passive Filter N/A N/A N/A
Active Filter N/A N/A N/A
SVC 30-50 ke/MVAR N/A 40 yrs
STATCOM 50-75 ke/MVAR N/A 40 yrs
Fixed Series Capacitor 10-20 ke/MVAR N/A 40 yrs
TCSC N/A N/A N/A
Transformers 60 Me N/A 40 yrs
Monopile Foundations N/A N/A N/A
Tripod Foundations N/A N/A N/A
Tripiles Foundations N/A N/A N/A
Jacket Foundations N/A N/A N/A
Gravity Foundation N/A N/A N/A
Floating Foundation N/A N/A N/A
AC Circuit Breaker N/A N/A 8k -10k
operations
DC Circuit Breaker N/A N/A N/A
Fault Current Limiter N/A N/A N/A
Tapping Equipment N/A N/A N/A
SCADA N/A N/A N/A
51
Appendices
A HVDC Converter Station Configuration
There are three basic configurations of VSC based HVDC Converter Station in a HVDC
grid.
• Asymmetrical monopole configuration:
Figure 11: Asymmetrical monopolar configuration 254
This configuration as shown in Figure 11 has only one high voltage conductor
(overhead line or cable) and one grounded neutral conductor. The neutral con-
ductor acting as metallic return, although is fully rated for the load current but
only lightly insulated which makes it cheaper and more reliable. A major disad-
vantage of this converter is that if any of the major component of the converter
is lost, either due to a fault or during maintenance, complete disruption of power
transfer through this converter is needed. 255
• Symmetrical monopole configuration
Figure 12: Symmetrical monopolar configuration 256
254. Willem Leterme et al., “Overview of grounding and configuration options for meshed HVDC grids,”
IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery 29, no. 6 (2014): 2467–2475.
255. Dirk Van Hertem, Oriol Gomis-Bellmunt, and Jun Liang, HVDC grids: for offshore and supergrid of
the future, vol. 51 (John Wiley & Sons, 2016).
52
Figure 12 shows the configuration of a symmetrical monopole. As opposing to
the asymmetrical monopole, the AC connection is made to the midpoint of the
VSC converter. This type of configuration requires two fully rated high-voltage
conductors. Two DC terminals are connected to the positive and negative pole of
the converters operating at equal and opposite DC voltage. A major disadvantage
of this configuration is that if any of the major component of the configuration
is lost, either due to a fault or during maintenance, complete disruption of power
transfer through this converter is needed. Symmetrical monopoles have been
widely used configuration. 257
• Bipolar configuration
Figure 13: Bipolar configuration 258
Figure 13 shows schematic diagram of bipolar configuration. In this configu-

ration, two asymmetrical monopoles are connected through ground connected
poles which can be connected using a neutral conductor. The advantage of this
configuration is that in case of loss of any major element of the configuration,
only 50% of the transmission capacity is lost. 259
53
References
ABB. ABB’s Hybrid HVDC Circuit Breaker. http://new.abb.com/grid/events/
cigre2014/hvdc-breaker.
. Generator step-up transformers (GSU). http://new.abb.com/products/
transformers/power/generator-step-up.
. Harmonic filters CHARM. http://new.abb.com/high-voltage/capaci
tors/hv/harmonic-filters.
. HVDC converter transformers. http://new.abb.com/products/transfo
rmers/power/hvdc-converter.
. System intertie transformers. http://new.abb.com/products/transfor
mers/power/system-intertie-transformers.
. The new 525 kV extruded HVDC cable system, 2014. https://library.e.
abb.com/public/7caadd110d270de5c1257d3b002ff3ee/The%5C%20new%
5C%20525%5C%20kV%5C%20extruded%5C%20HVDC%5C%20cable%5C%20syst
em%5C%20White%5C%20PaperFINAL.pdf.
. Thyristor controlled series compensation. http://new.abb.com/facts/
thyristor-controlled-series-compensation.
Akhmatov, Vladislav, Jørgen Nygaard Nielsen, Jan Thisted, et al. “Siemens Wind Po-
wer 3.6 MW wind turbines for large offshore wind farms.” In Proc. 7th Interna-
tional Workshop on Large Scale Integration of Wind Power and on Transmission
Networks for Offshore Wind Farms, 494–497. Energynautics GmbH, 2008.
Ali, Mohd Hasan. Wind energy systems: solutions for power quality and stabilization.
CRC Press, 2012.
Ardelean, Mircea, and Philip Minnebo. HVDC Submarine Power Cables in the World.
JRC Technical Reports, 2015. http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/
repository/bitstream/JRC97720/ld-na-27527-en-n.pdf.
Association, European Wind Energy, et al. Wind energy-the facts: a guide to the techno-
logy, economics and future of wind power. Routledge, 2012.
Bak, Christian and Zahle, Frederik and Bitsche, Robert and Kim, Taeseong and Yde,
Anders and Henriksen, Lars Christian and Hansen, Morten Hartvig and Blasques,
Jose Pedro Albergaria Amaral and Gaunaa, Mac and Natarajan, Anand. The DTU
10-MW Reference Wind Turbine. http://orbit.dtu.dk/files/55645274/
The_DTU_10MW_Reference_Turbine_Christian_Bak.pdf, 2013.
Barker, CD, and RS Whitehouse. “A current flow controller for use in HVDC grids.”
In 10th IET International Conference on AC and DC Power Transmission (ACDC
2012). IET, 2012.
54
Bell, K, et al. Deliverable 15.2, TWENTIES project, Technical and economic impact
analysis of the demonstrations in TF2. http : / / orbit . dtu . dk / fedora /
objects / orbit : 129857 / datastreams / file _ 0b45a5d2 - e062 - 489e -
8cfe-2401e55e4da4/content, 2013.
Bradt, M, B Badrzadeh, E Camm, D Mueller, J Schoene, T Siebert, T Smith, M Starke,
and R Walling. “Harmonics and resonance issues in wind power plants.” In Trans-
mission and Distribution Conference and Exposition (T&D), 2012 IEEE PES, 1–
8. IEEE, 2012.
Callavik, Magnus, Peter Lundberg, and O Hansson. “NORDLINK Pioneering VSC-
HVDC interconnector between Norway and Germany.” ABB White Paper, 2015.
Chen, L, WH Lam, and AH Shamsuddin. “Potential scour for marine current turbines
based on experience of offshore wind turbine.” In IOP Conference Series: Earth
and Environmental Science, 16:012057. 1. IOP Publishing, 2013.
CIGRE Brochure. Active Filters in HVDC Applications, 2003.
. Technical Requirements and specifications of state-of-the-art HVDC switching
equipment, 2017.
DNV. Design of Offshore Wind Turbine Structures. https://rules.dnvgl.com/
docs/pdf/DNV/codes/docs/2014-05/Os-J101.pdf, 2014.
e-Highway2050. D3.2 - Technology innovation needs. http : / / www . e - highway
2050.eu/fileadmin/documents/Results/D3.2_Technology_innovatio
n_needs_20151202.pdf, 2015.
. Technology Assessment Report (HVDC) - Annex to D3.1 - Technology Asses-
sment Report. http://www.e- highway2050.eu/fileadmin/documents/
Results/D3/report_HVDC.pdf, 2014.
ENTSO-E. Offshore Transmission Technology. http://www.benelux.int/files/
6814/0923/4514/offshore_grid_technology.pdf.
Esteban, M, J Lopes-Gutierrez, J Diez, and V Negro. “Foundations for offshore wind
farms.” In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Environmental
Science and Technology, Rhodes, Greece, 516–523. 2011.
EU-FP7 project - REseArch, methodoLogies and technologieS for the effective deve-
lopment of pan-European key GRID infrastructures to support the achievement of
a reliable, competitive and sustainable electrical supply. http://realisegrid.
rse-web.it/.
Europacable. An Introduction to High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) Subsea Cables
Systems. http://www.europacable.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/
Introduction-to-HVDC-Subsea-Cables-16-July-2012.pdf, 2012.
. An Introduction to High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) Underground Cables.
http://www.europacable.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Introduc
tion_to_HVDC_Underground_Cables_October_2011.pdf, 2011.
55
European Commission. Technology readiness levels (TRL). https://ec.europa.
eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/wp/2014_2015/annexes/
h2020-wp1415-annex-g-trl_en.pdf.
European Wind Energy Association(EWEA). Deep water. the next step for offshore
wind energy. http://www.ewea.org/fileadmin/files/library/publica
tions/reports/Deep_Water.pdf, 2013.
EWEA. The European offshore wind industry - key trends and statistics 2015, 2016.
https : / / www . ewea . org / fileadmin / files / library / publications /
statistics/EWEA-European-Offshore-Statistics-2015.pdf.
Francos, P Labra, S Sanz Verdugo, H Fernández Álvarez, S Guyomarch, and J Loncle.
“INELFE—Europe’s first integrated onshore HVDC interconnection.” In Power
and Energy Society General Meeting, 2012 IEEE, 1–8. IEEE, 2012.
Friends of the SuperGrid. Roadmap to the Supergrid Technologies. http://mainstr
eam- downloads.opendebate.co.uk/downloads/WG2_Roadmap_to_the_
Supergrid_Technologies_2013_Final_v2.pdf, 2013.
Fujita, Hideaki, and Hirofumi Akagi. “A practical approach to harmonic compensation
in power systems-series connection of passive and active filters.” IEEE Transacti-
ons on industry applications 27, no. 6 (1991): 1020–1025.
Garbatov, Y (Ed.), and C (Ed.) Guedes Soares. Progress in the Analysis and Design of
Marine Structures. CRC Press, London, 2017.
Glover, J Duncan, Mulukutla S Sarma, and Thomas Overbye. Power System Analysis
& Design, SI Version. Cengage Learning, 2012.
Grid Innovation Online. Technology Database. http://www.gridinnovation-on-
line.eu/Technology-Database.
Gunnarsson, Stefan, Lin Jiang, and Anders Petersson. “Active filters in HVDC trans-
missions.” In Proceedings of the 40th Session Regular Meeting of the CIGRÉ
Study Committee B4–HVDC and Power Electronics Equipments. 2009.
Hagar, Abdelrahman. “A new family of transformerless modular DC-DC converters
for high power applications.” PhD diss., University of Toronto, 2011.
Hansen, Anca D, Florin Iov, Frede Blaabjerg, and Lars H Hansen. “Review of contem-
porary wind turbine concepts and their market penetration.” Wind Engineering 28,
no. 3 (2004): 247–263.
Hansen, Anca D, Clemens Jauch, Poul Ejnar Sørensen, Florin Iov, and Frede Blaab-
jerg. Dynamic wind turbine models in power system simulation tool DIgSILENT.
Technical report. 2004.
Hansen, Anca Daniela, Nicolaos Antonio Cutululis, P Sorensen, and Florin Iov. “Grid
integration impacts on wind turbine design and development.” In PowerTech, 2009
IEEE Bucharest, 1–7. IEEE, 2009.
56
Higgins, Paraic, and Aoife Foley. “The evolution of offshore wind power in the United
Kingdom.” Renewable and sustainable energy reviews 37 (2014): 599–612.
Hingorani, Narain G, and Laszlo Gyugyi. Understanding FACTS. IEEE press, 2000.
Innovative Wind Conversion Systems (10-20MW) for Offshore Applications, INNWIND
Project. www.innwind.eu.
International Renewable Energy Agency(Irena). Renewable energy technologies: Cost
analysis series. https://www.irena.org/DocumentDownloads/Publicati
ons/RE_Technologies_Cost_Analysis-WIND_POWER.pdf, 2012.
IRENE-40.eu. IRENE-40 Technology Database. http://database.irene40.eu/.
Jovcic, Dragan. “Bidirectional, high-power DC transformer.” IEEE transactions on Po-
wer Delivery 24, no. 4 (2009): 2276–2283.
Kaiser, Mark J, and Brian F Snyder. “Offshore Wind Energy System Components.” In
Offshore Wind Energy Cost Modeling, 13–30. Springer, 2012.
Khan, Faisal H, and Leon M Tolbert. “A multilevel modular capacitor-clamped DC–
DC converter.” IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications 43, no. 6 (2007):
1628–1638.
Knight, Sara. Analysis: Siemens’ radical substation plan. News Article - WindPower
Offshore, 2015. http://www.windpoweroffshore.com/article/1338456/
analysis-siemens-radical-substation-plan.
Konstantelos, Ioannis, Danny Pudjianto, Goran Strbac, Jan De Decker, Pieter Joseph,
Aurore Flament, Paul Kreutzkamp, Fabio Genoese, Leif Rehfeldt, Anna-Kathrin
Wallasch, et al. “Integrated North Sea grids: The costs, the benefits and their dis-
tribution between countries.” Energy Policy 101 (2017): 28–41.
Lee, Soo-Bong, Tae-Ho Lee, Eui-Hwan Jung, Yoon-Hyoung Kim, Hee-Chan Park,
Sung-Yun Kim, Su-Kil Lee, Jin-Ho Nam, Seung-Ik Jeon, and Wan-Ki Park. “De-
velopment of 250kV HVDC XLPE cable system in Korea.” In Electrical Insula-
ting Materials (ISEIM), Proceedings of 2014 International Symposium on, 334–
337. IEEE, 2014.
Leterme, Willem, Pieter Tielens, Steven De Boeck, and Dirk Van Hertem. “Overview
of grounding and configuration options for meshed HVDC grids.” IEEE Tran-
sactions on Power Delivery 29, no. 6 (2014): 2467–2475.
Matsui, Yoshihiko, K Nagatake, M Takeshita, K Katsumata, A Sano, H Ichikawa, H
Saitohu, and M Sakaki. “Development and technology of high voltage VCBs;
Breaf history and state of art.” In Discharges and Electrical Insulation in Vacuum,
2006. ISDEIV’06. International Symposium on, 1:253–256. IEEE, 2006.
Meier, Stephan, Tommy Kjellqvist, Staffan Norrga, and Hans-Peter Nee. “Design con-
siderations for medium-frequency power transformers in offshore wind farms.” In
Power Electronics and Applications, 2009. EPE’09. 13th European Conference
on, 1–12. IEEE, 2009.
57
Migliavacca, Gianluigi. Advanced technologies for future transmission grids. Springer
Science & Business Media, 2012.
Mitsubishi Vestas Offshore. V164-8.0 MW. http : / / www . mhivestasoffshore .
com/innovations/.
. World’s most powerful wind turbine once again smashes 24 hour power gene-
ration record as 9 MW wind turbine is launched. http://www.mhivestasoffs
hore.com/new-24-hour-record/.
Monopiles Support Structures. http://www.4coffshore.com/windfarms/monopi
les-support-structures-aid4.html.
Negro, Vicente, et al. “Monopiles in offshore wind: Preliminary estimate of main di-
mensions.” Ocean Engineering 133 (2017): 253–261.
NKT. 640 kV extruded HVDC cable system, 2017. http://www.nkt.de/filead
min/user_upload/01_Page_images_global/general_images_pages/
About_us/Innovation/640_kV_extruded_HVDC.pdf.
NordBalt. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NordBalt.
Northern Pass Project-Diagrams of Cross-Section of Underground Cables. https :
//energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2013/08/f2/Exhibit\%203\%20-\%
20Diagrams\%20of\%20Cross-Section\%20of\%20Underground\%20Cab
les.pdf.
Offshore Wind Industry. EEW has produced the world’s heaviest Monopile. http :
//www.offshorewindindustry.com/news/eew-produced-worlds-heavi
est-monopile.
Ortiz, G, J Biela, D Bortis, and JW Kolar. “1 Megawatt, 20 kHz, isolated, bidirectional
12kV to 1.2 kV DC-DC converter for renewable energy applications.” In Power
Electronics Conference (IPEC), 2010 International, 3212–3219. IEEE, 2010.
PANCIATICI, Patrick, WP Leader, Camille PACHE, RTE Jean MAEGHT, and RTE
Alexander WEBER. “e-HIGHWAY 2050 Modular Development Plan of the Pan-
European Transmission System 2050.”
Pannu,Mohinder and Valent,Yoram and Garbi,Uri. “Saturated Core Fault Current Li-
miters: successful testing/service performance.” Transformers Magazine 2, no. 4
(2015): 78–86.
Prysmian. High Voltage Cables. http://nl.prysmiangroup.com/nl/business_
markets/markets/hv-and-submarine/downloads/datasheets/Prysmia
n-Delft-HVac.pdf.
REALISEGRID. D3.3.2 Review of costs of transmission infrastructures, including cross
border connections. http : / / realisegrid . rse - web . it / content / fi
les / File / Publications % 5C % 20and % 5C % 20results / Deliverable _
REALISEGRID_3.3.2.pdf.
58
Reeves, Eric Alwyn, and Martin Heathcote. Newnes electrical pocket book. Routledge,
2013.
Siemens. Circuit Breakers. https://www.energy.siemens.com/us/en/power-
transmission / high - voltage - products / circuit - breaker / sf6 - hv -
circuitbreaker-dtc.htm.
. DC commutation breaker successfully tested in 5000-A HVDC system in China.
https : / / www . siemens . com / press / en / pressrelease / ?press = /en /
pressrelease/2015/energymanagement/pr2015010107emen.htm&conte
nt[]=EM.
SIEMENS. HVDC Transformers. https://www.energy.siemens.com/hq/en/
power-transmission/transformers/hvdc-transformers/hvdc-transf
ormers.htm\#content=Description.
Siemens Wind Power. SWT-7.0-154. http : / / www . siemens . com / global / en /
home/markets/wind/turbines/swt-7-0-154.html.
Singh, Bhim, Kamal Al-Haddad, and Ambrish Chandra. “A review of active filters for
power quality improvement.” IEEE transactions on industrial electronics 46, no.
5 (1999): 960–971.
Song, Yong-Hua, and Allan Johns. Flexible ac transmission systems (FACTS). 30. IET,
1999.
Steelwind Nordenham. http : / / www . steelwind - nordenham . de / steelwind /
produkte/megamonopiles/index.shtml.en.
Steigerwald, Robert L, Rik W De Doncker, and H Kheraluwala. “A comparison of
high-power DC-DC soft-switched converter topologies.” IEEE transactions on in-
dustry applications 32, no. 5 (1996): 1139–1145.
Steiner, Michael, and Harry Reinold. “Medium frequency topology in railway appli-
cations.” In Power Electronics and Applications, 2007 European Conference on,
1–10. IEEE, 2007.
SuperPower-Inc. HTS Transmission Cable. http://www.superpower- inc.com/
content/hts-transmission-cable.
Taufiq, J. “Power electronics technologies for railway vehicles.” In Power Conversion
Conference-Nagoya, 2007. PCC’07, 1388–1393. IEEE, 2007.
Tripile Support Structures. http://www.4coffshore.com/windfarms/tripile-
support-structures-aid6.html.
Tripod Support Structures. http://www.4coffshore.com/windfarms/tripod-
support-structures-aid7.html.
Vaféas, A, S Galant, and T Pagano. “Final WP1 report on cost/benefit analysis of inno-
vative technologies and grid technologies roadmap report validated by the external
partners.” REALISEGRID Deliverable D 1 (2011).
59
Van Hertem, Dirk, Oriol Gomis-Bellmunt, and Jun Liang. HVDC grids: for offshore
and supergrid of the future. Vol. 51. John Wiley & Sons, 2016.
Viking Link. http://viking-link.com/.
Vrana, Til Kristian, and Raymundo E Torres Olguin. “Technology perspectives of the
North Sea Offshore and storage Network (NSON),” 2015.
Wilfried, Njomo Wandji, Anand Natarajan, and Nikolay Dimitrov. “Influence of model
parameters on the design of large diameter monopiles for multi megawatt offshore
wind turbines at 50 m water depths.” Wind Energy, 2018.
Wolter, C, H K Jacobsen, G Rogdakis, L Zeni, and Cutululis N. “Overplanting in offs-
hore wind power plants in different regulatory regimes.” In proc. 15th Internatio-
nal Workshop on large scale integration of wind power into power systems. 2016.
Yang, Liyu, Tiefu Zhao, Jun Wang, and Alex Q Huang. “Design and analysis of a
270kW five-level dc/dc converter for solid state transformer using 10kV SiC po-
wer devices.” In Power Electronics Specialists Conference, 2007. PESC 2007.
IEEE, 245–251. IEEE, 2007.
Yunus, Kalid. “Steady state analysis of HVDC grid with Wind Power Plants.” PhD
diss., Chalmers University of Technology, 2017.
Zaccone, E. High voltage underground and subsea cable technology options for future
transmission in Europe. presentation at E-Highway2050 WP3 workshop April
15th, 2014 Brussels, 2014. http://www.e- highway2050.eu/fileadmin/
documents/Workshop4/7b_Europacable_for_WP3_Workshop_Technolog
y_Presentation_15_April_2014_c.pdf.
Zhang, Fan, Lei Du, Fang Zheng Peng, and Zhaoming Qian. “A new design method for
high-power high-efficiency switched-capacitor DC–DC converters.” IEEE Tran-
sactions on Power Electronics 23, no. 2 (2008): 832–840.
60

Technology Catalogue Final

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Technology Catalogue Final

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Technology Catalogue Final

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Downloaded from orbit.dtu.

dk on: Dec 05, 2023

Das, Kaushik; Antonios Cutululis, Nicolaos

Link back to DTU Orbit

Kaushik Das, Nicolaos Antonios Cutululis

Appendix A HVDC Converter Station Configuration 52

CSC Current Source Converter. 2, 14

FRC Fully Rated Converter. 4

HTS High Temperature Superconducting. 6, 8, 9

LCC Line Commutated Converter. 12, 14–16

OHL Overhead Line. 2

PMSG permanent magnet synchronous generator. 4

TCSC Thyristor Controlled Series Compensation. 28

VSC Voltage Source Converter. 2, 12, 14–16

WPP Wind Power Plant. 7, 8

XLPE Cross-linked polyethylene. 6, 7, 10

Figure 1: Traditional connection of offshore wind power plants

Table 1: Categories of technology development

Category Description TRL 11 today

1.2 Outline of the Report

2.1.1 Doubly-fed Induction Generator (DFIG) based Wind Turbine

2.1.2 FRC based Wind Turbine

2.2 Technical feasibilities

2.3 Stages of Development

2.4 Cost and Lifetime

3.1 XLPE cables

Figure 2: Example of XLPE cable design 28

Example of XLPE cable design is shown in Figure 2. Extruded insulation cables

3.1.1 Technical feasibilities

• Current Rating: 1.9-2.6 kA 33

3.1.3 Cost and Lifetime

3.2 HTS cables

3.2.1 Technical feasibilities

• Maximum Voltage: 220 kV 41

3.2.2 Stages of Development

4.1.1 Self-Contained Fluid Filled Cables

4.1.2 Mass Impregnated Cables

4.1.3 Cross-Linked Poly-Ethylene Cables

4.2 Technical feasibilities

Europe’s longest interconnector: NordLink project with VSC converters rated at

4.3 Stages of Development

4.4 Cost and Lifetime

5.1 Line Commutated Converters

5.1.2 Technical feasibilities

• Voltage (line to ground) for cables: 550 kV 84

• Also known as Current Source • Since 1999

Key characteristics of LCC Key characteristics of VSC

• More powerful • Younger technology

• Maximum length of the line: 2000 km 87

5.1.4 Cost and Lifetime

5.2 Voltage Source Converters

5.2.2 Technical feasibilities

• Current: 1.5-3 kA (3-4 kA in future) 98

5.2.3 Stages of Development

5.2.4 Cost and Lifetime

5.3 Diode Rectifier Units

5.3.2 Technical feasibilities

• Nominal voltage AC: 66 kV 114

• Bio degradable and flame retardant ester insulation 117