AC fault ride-through control strategy of MMC-UHVDC system with hierarchical connection mode

Abstract

The ultra-high voltage direct current (UHVDC) transmission composed of modular multilevel converters (MMC) is an important technology for large-scale centralized transmission of renewable energy. In UHVDC system, temporary faults in the AC power grid system are a high probability fault, and the fault control strategy affects the safety and reliability of system operation. This paper studies on the condition of AC power grid faults occurring at the receiving converter station. Firstly, study the system characteristics after the occurrence of AC faults, and use theoretical analysis to derive the trend of DC voltage changes of each converter valve. Then, an AC fault ride-through control strategy with high power transmission capability is proposed with hierarchical connection structure, the strategy controls the system to synchronously reduce DC voltage and AC active power after a fault, maximizing the retention of the system’s transmission capacity during the occurrence of faults, thereby reduce power shock in the system. Finally, a simulation model of the dual ended system has built based on the PSCAD simulation platform. The simulation results show that when a single-phase ground fault and a three-phase ground fault occur in the high valve group at the receiving station, the system can retain about 83% and 50% of the transmission capacity during the fault period, respectively. Meanwhile, there is no serious overvoltage or overcurrent phenomenon in the system. The simulation results verified the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.