VSC-HVDC Transmission Solution

Reliable solution to power transmission to island and renewable

energy grid interconnection

NR Electric Co., Ltd.

VSC Transmission Overview 1

VSC-HVDC Primary Equipment 3

VSC HVDC Control and Protection 5

Multi terminal VSC-HVDC Transmission (MTDC) 9

Work flow and Test Lab 10

Case Study 11
 VSC Transmission
Overview

VSC-HVDC transmission uses IGBT-based voltage source inverter and advanced control strategies to achieve
efficient power transmission and dynamic reactive power support for AC system. It effectively improves low-
voltage ride-through capability to enhance the transient performance of grid interconnection and thus is widely
applied to renewable energy generation. As one of the most innovative power electronic applications in the
world, it becomes the key to smart grid technologies.

Figure 1 VSC transmission scheme

The point-to-point VSC-HVDC transmission scheme consists of two VSCs interconnected on DC side. Each VSC
connects to an AC grids on AC side. A passive or an active AC network can be connected to the AC side of VSC.
If connecting to a passive network on the AC side, the direction of power flow can only be from DC input towards
the passive load on AC side. However, if connecting to an active AC network, the power flow can be bidirectional
by controlling the AC voltage output of VSC.

comparison between LCC-HVDC and VSC-HVDC

LCC-HVDC VSC HVDC

Thyristor IGBT
AC system to support commutation Self commutation
Commutation failure due to system fault of switch operation No commutation failure
Hard for multi-terminal system and connection to weak system Easy for multi-terminal system
Large amount of reactive power produced Reactive power can be self adjusted
Larger site area Smaller site area
Less losses (0.8%) More losses(1.2%)

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VSC Transmission
Overview

Different from traditional thyristor-based HVDC • Suitable for long-distance small power transmission
transmission, the direction of power flow for VSC- • Instant supply of reactive power
HVDC on DC line is determined by the direction of DC
• Smaller filtering capacity
current. VSC-HVDC has rapid response speed, well
• Black-start capability
controllability and flexible operation mode. It greatly
reduces system short-circuit current, and can supply • Multi-terminal network interconnection capability
power to passive grid. Thus VSC-HVDC is an effective • Modular design with relatively small cover area
way to solve large-area power blackout and long-
The PCS-9520 VSC-HVDC transmission system has
distance power transmission to isolated grid.
advantages of low switching frequency, small running
There are several system configurations available loss, easily extensible, stable and long life cycle. It is
for DC circuit and converter units in VSC-HVDC suitable for the applications to:
transmission application. Each VSC substation can • Wind, solar and other new energy grid-connection
be composed of single converter unit of a phase unit
• Island, offshore platform supply
topology resulting in a transmission scheme.
• City DC transmission and distribution grid
• Remote area power supply

• Asynchronous grid interconnection

• The multi-terminal flexible DC power transmission

Figure 2 VSC transmission configurations

NR electric provides the total solution for VSC-HVDC

transmission. The PCS-9520 VSC HVDC technology
features:

• Independent control of active and reactive power

• Suitable for the application to passive power
supply

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 VSC-HVDC Primary
Equipment

NR undertakes turnkey projects for VSC-HVDC NR Converter advantages:

transmission with our own innovative products and • MMC topology with low losses
qualified third party products. The working scope
• Easy to achieve various voltage levels and power
of turnkey projects includes VSC-based converter
levels
valves, converter halls, insertion resistors, optical CTs,
• Low harmonics output
electronic CTs/VTs, converter transformer, converter
reactors, electric cable or overhead line, control and • No need of AC filters
protection system. • Modularized design to ease maintenance
• Good self-protection against fault

Figure 4 converter transformer

In many cases, VSC-HVDC substation design

includes interface transformers. In general, interface
Figure 3 valve physical structure
transformers can fulfill the following tasks:
Converter valves are the core of PCS-9520 VSC-HVDC • Provide reactance between AC system and VSC
transmission system. The capacitor and switching unit
devices of converter valve can form a sub-module.
• Adjust the standard AC system voltage to match
Each phase bridge is composed of several sub-
the VSC AC output voltage and allow optimal
modules and a series connected reactor. By varying
utilization of VSC valve ratings;
the number of sub-modules, it is flexible to change the
• Connect several VSC units together on AC side to
converter output voltage and power levels, and easy
obtain different DC voltage potentials;
to extend the output level with low harmonic distortion
and low switching frequency, so as to reduce operation • Avoid zero sequence currents flowing between AC
losses and improve system efficiency. system and VSC unit.

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VSC-HVDC Primary
Equipment

Figure 5 phase reactor Figure 6 ECT photo

The phase reactors are connected in series to VSC

valve. The reactors have different functions:
• Determinate inverter delivery capacity
• Inhibit the inverter output harmonics
• Restrain the rate of rise of fault current
• Limit the short-circuit current peak

• Suppress the circulating current

The type of DC transmission line is determined by

environment requirement. For severe sites and Figure 7 EVT photo
submarine applications, DC power cables are preferred.
In VSC converter station, electromagnetic interference
Using DC power cables for VSC-HVDC transmission
can seriously affect measurement accuracy. NR
has following advantages:
provides high performance DC electric CT/VT to solve
• Flexible configuration of voltage level up to 320kV
this problem. The DC electronic CT/VT features:
• High strength and flexibility
• High reliability
• Direct burial technology
• Large dynamic range:Response time less than
• Two cables being close in arrangement 125us
• Preventing fluid leakage and repeated bending • High accuracy:Measurement precision of 0.2%
• Capable to work at low temperature • Output signal interface complies with international
• Lower insulation requirements standards (based on IEC60044 8 or TDM)
• Perfect self-monitoring function and easy fault
maintenance

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 VSC-HVDC Control
and Protection

The control and protection system is the brain of PCS- The active power control loop can control either the
9520 VSC-HVDC transmission system. It provides active power or the DC side voltage. In a DC link, one
monitoring, control and protection of all equipment in station is selected to control the active power while
VSC-HVDC transmission system and converter station. the other must be used to control the DC side voltage.
The reactive power control loop can control either the
In VSC-HVDC transmission scheme, the switching
reactive power or the AC side voltage. Either of these
of IGBT valves depends on a pulse width modulation
two modes can be selected independently at each end
(PWM) pattern. The switching control allows the
of the DC link.
simultaneous adjustment of the amplitude and phase
angle of converter AC output voltage while keeping dc NR VSC-HVDC control includes the constant AC
voltage constant. With these two independent control voltage control for passive network, constant P-Vac
variables, the active and reactive power control loops control, Vac-Udc control, P–Q control, Q–Udc control
can be used for regulation at the same time. and frequency control.The control configuration of VSC
substation is shown in figure 8.

Figure 8 VSC control configuration

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VSC HVDC Control
and Protection

In practical, VSC systems shall allow system rest fault protection/supervision, frequency protection;
in case of AC disturbance, DC disturbance and impedance relay protection, fire protection and
internal faults within one converter station. The typical mechanical protection.
protection diagram for a VSC substation is shown in
NR’s PCS-9520 VSC-HVDC control and protection
figure 9.
system features high sensitivity and reliability. It
• over-current protection of a.c. circuit breakers(1);
supports many configuration schemes, including:
• abnormal a.c. voltage protection(2);
• Duplicated configuration, i.e. two complete sets
• earth fault protection(3); of protection equipment that each protection
• a.c. filter protections(4); adopts the logic of “fault detection + protection
• differential protection(5); calculation”.

• over-current protection of the converter(6); • Two-out-of-three configuration, i.e. three complete

sets of protection equipment which works
• abnormal d.c. voltage protection(7);
simultaneously and use two-out-of-three vote logic.
• over-current protection of the VSC d.c.
The tripping command is issued if and only if two
capacitors(8);
of three protection elements are activated.
• d.c. discharge unit(9);
• Redundant configuration, i.e. two complete sets
• valve protection, e.g., in the valve gate of protection equipment that one set is activated,
electronics(10). while the other is hot standby. During fault, system
switchover is required prior to protection element
Additional protection functions are also integrated,
operation.
such as loss of cooling protection; d.c. line/cable earth

Figure 9 VSC protection configuration

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 VSC HVDC Control
and Protection

VSC-HVDC control and protection system adopts The operating control system covers operating
distributed structure. It consists of flexible HVDC control personnel workstation, engineer workstation, owner
and protection units, distributed I / O units for field workstation, system server, file server, SCADA, LAN,
device and fiber optical field bus which is connecting station clock system and remote dispatch center/control
the master unit to I / O devices. (Figure 10) center interface.

The control and protection system includes state-of-

the-art computers, micro-controllers and digital signal
processors. Each VSC has two independent control
and protection systems for redundancy to ensure
high reliability. Multiple transient fault recording (TFR)
functions are integrated to record signals in the control
and protection system at selected time spans to provide
complete information of the dynamic performance of
converter.

The above system is the control platform and data

processing center of the entire VSC-HVDC control and Figure 11 PCS9520 configuration

protection system. It provides station GPS, remote-

dispatch center’s communication interface and other
related functions.

Figure 10 PCS9520 control and protection structure

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VSC-HVDC Control
and Protection

The Operator Work Stations (OWS) is serial connected • Modularized application software
to SCADA system via common hardware. It offers • Graphical programming and debugging tool
the on-line access to operational status and settings
• Less field bus fiber
of control and protection systems and integrates
• Remote software maintenance from workstation
diagnostic information such as event list, alarm list,
fault list, and disturbance recordings of control and • IO boards Plug and Play
protection system. • Cross-platform operator control system
• Multiple accurate alarm events
• Internal fault recording
• Spare parts guarantee and free chip upgrade

NR PCS-9520 has other features.

• High flexibility
• Compatible to electronic transducer interface
• Complied with IEC-61850 standard
• Supporting centralized control center scheme
• Supporting protective redundancy configuration
Figure 12 HMI functions • Providing communication interface to stability
control system
NR PCS-9520 VSC-HVDC control and protection has
high reliable system, hardware and software. • Backup control system

• Embedded Systems
• No operating system in realtime applications
• Overall enclosed design without fan
• Advanced system monitoring and fast switching
• Reliable protective redundant configuration
• Dedicated high-speed data bus
• Overall redundant design
• System electromagnetic shielding with high
immunity

NR PCS-9520 is also easy to maintain, operate,

monitor and upgrade.
Figure 13 On site OWS photo

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 Multi terminal VSC-
HVDC Transmission
(MTDC)

Renewable energy grid interconnection can reduce The MTDC link shall have at least one of the terminals
operational costs and CO2 emissions. As the core of configured in constant DC voltage control mode.
renewable energy interconnection, MTDC network When there is one DC voltage regulator in the MTDC
offers new power market opportunities. The multi while others operate in constant power control mode,
terminal VSC HVDC has following advantages: the system remains stable that power demand and
• Power reversal is easily achieved by current supply are balanced. The disconnection between DC
reversal without mechanical switch. regulating terminal and MTDC can result in system
instability and finally lead to blackout. To avoid such
• Commutation failure is eliminated in an VSC based
situations, the P-UDC characteristics of some terminals
inverter.
(connected to active AC networks) can be modified to
• Pulse Width Modulation(PWM) eliminates low
cross the line P=0. By doing so, DC voltage controllers
frequency harmonics
will have redundancy that the MTDC system can
• Simple AC filters. operate at different DC voltage levels within limits.
• No need of reactive power compensation.
In another method, DC voltage control implemented by
• Limited short-circuit currents.
droop characteristics can realize DC voltage regulation
• No additional capacity required for voltage support of two or more terminals in the MTDC based on their
or stability. DC voltage droop characteristics.

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Work flow and Test
Lab

Figure 14 work flow and Quality assurance

NR possesses professional test labs and realtime NR also provides high voltage and large current test
simulators that can perform up to 50 levels converter especially for IGBT converter valves.
test. The RT-lab digital lab can be used to do close-loop
system test and system optimal design.

Figure 15 digital simulator lab Figure 16 large current and high voltage test lab

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 Case Study

Nanhui VSC-HVDC project interconnects power grid to VSC-HVDC transmission operation modes:
the wind farm which has eleven wind generators with • Interconnection between wind farm and power grid
each rated capacity of 1.5MW and additional ±4Mvar via HVDC line
reactive power for voltage support at common coupling
• Parallel operation between HVDC lines and HVAC
point.
lines
Converter station NanHui ShuYuan • STATCOM operation mode
AC system voltage 35kV 35kV
• Direct power supply to passive network
AC system frequency 50Hz 50Hz
DC rated voltage ±30kV ±30kV • Interconnection between wind farm and power grid
DC rated power 18MW 18MW via AC line during maintenance or VSC-HVDC line
outage

Figure 17 Nanhui VSC transmission connection grid

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NR Electric Co., Ltd.

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