Engineering practices for the integration of large-scale renewable energy VSC-HVDC systems

Abstract

With the continuous development of power electronic devices, intelligent control systems, and other technologies, the voltage level and transmission capacity of voltage source converter (VSC)-high-voltage direct current (HVDC) technology will continue to increase, while the system losses and costs will gradually decrease. Therefore, it can be foreseen that VSC-HVDC transmission technology will be more widely applied in future large-scale renewable energy development projects. Adopting VSC-HVDC transmission technology can be used to overcome issues encountered by large-scale renewable energy transmission and integration projects, such as a weak local power grid, lack of support for synchronous power supply, and insufficient accommodation capacity. However, this solution also faces many technical challenges because of the differences between renewable energy and traditional synchronous power generation systems. Based on actual engineering practices that are used worldwide, this article analyzes the technical challenges encountered by integrating large-scale renewable energy systems that adopt the use of VSC-HVDC technology, while aiming to provide support for future research and engineering projects related to VSC-HVDC-based large-scale renewable energy integration projects.