Impact of DC fault in multi-terminal DC grid on connected AC system stability

Abstract

Multi-terminal dc (MTDC) grid has been considered as a promising future transmission and distribution system architecture, especially for remote renewable energy integration. However, short-circuit faults can be more detrimental to dc grids than ac grids. The lack of effective and economical dc circuit breakers and potential significant impact of dc fault on the connected ac system have become the main barrier for the dc grid application. This paper analyzes the major differences of dc grid and ac grid under short-circuit fault conditions. After that, the dc fault impact on the connected ac system is evaluated by comparing with an equivalent multi-terminal ac (MTAC) grid. Simulation results indicate that the dc fault impact on the connected ac system stability can be small if fast dc circuit breakers or full-bridge modular multi-level converters (MMCs) are employed. The impact of equivalent multiple ac faults on the connected ac system is small under the defined system scenarios.