A Transformerless Series Reactive/Harmonic Compensator for Line-Commutated HVDC for Grid Integration of Offshore Wind Power

Abstract

This paper introduces, explains, and investigates the application of a transformerless series-connected reactive/harmonic compensator. The proposed compensator is applied to compensate the high reactive-power/harmonic demand of a 12-pulse line-commutated HVDC rectifier terminal. Simulation results reveal that the proposed strategy compensates the reactive power and harmonics of the HVDC converter satisfactorily. All of this is achieved using significantly smaller capacitance at the compensator dc link than the capacitance required in the state-of-the-art shunt compensators employing passive components. The compensator thus would eliminate the need of fundamental-frequency reactive power supply and minimize (or eliminate altogether) the requirement of passive shunt harmonic compensation. This would result into smaller shunt passive filters, smaller or no shunt capacitor banks, and smaller converter transformers, leading to a more compact HVDC terminal, the current size of which is considered to be the main hurdle in its application for integration of large-scale offshore wind energy. Experimental results from a small-scale setup validate the effectiveness observed in the simulations.