High Voltage Direct Current Lines Research Articles

Performance analysis of voltage source converter based high voltage direct current line under small control perturbations

High voltage direct current (HVDC) systems provide important advantages; among them the ability to transmit enormous amounts of electrical power over great distances at low cost. As a result, planners of power systems consider it as a viable choice for power transmission and interconnection of asynchronous networks. Depending on HVDC grids, continental/super grids have been recently constructed to promote global economic development. The study described in the paper focuses on the behavior of a voltage sourced converter (VSC) based HVDC transmission system comprising three arms-neutral point clamped (NPC) converters interconnecting two asynchronous alternating current (AC)networks. In addition, the system components, and the vector control strategy of active/reactive powers and direct current (DC)bus voltage are simulated in MATLAB/Simulink under varying situations by adjusting the controller’s settings. The study records and analyzes AC/DC voltages and active/reactive powers at two converter stations undervarying power and voltage conditions. The results of the study provide key performance indicators, such as settling time (tsett), steady state error (SSE), overshot/undershoot (OS%/US%), and correlation factor (CF), which demonstrate the robustness of thesystem’s control.

A Measurement Method for the Charging Potential of Conductors in the Vicinity of HVDC Overhead Lines Based on a Non-Contact Electrometer

Charging potential appears when a conductor insulated to the ground is exposed to an electrostatic field. A modified measurement method based on a non-contact electrometer is presented in this article. This system is appropriate for measuring the charging potential of a conductor near high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) overhead lines. Compared with the contact measurement method, the modified method is hardly affected by the internal resistance of the electrometer, which helps ensure measurement accuracy in the electrostatic field. In contrast with the traditional non-contact electrometer, the electric field generated by HVDC lines and the space charges around the electrometer probe are shielded using a grounding cage. The effectiveness of the modified measurement method was verified via experiments. The impacts of the structure and position of the measurement system on the measured charging potential are discussed.

A Two-Terminal Directional Protection Method for HVDC Transmission Lines of Current Fault Component Based on Improved VMD-Hilbert Transform

The traveling wave protection of high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission lines is susceptible to the influence of transition resistance. As a backup protection, current differential protection has absolute selectivity, but usually requires an increase in delay to avoid misoperation caused by distributed capacitance on the line, resulting in a longer action time. Based on this, a two-terminal directional protection method for HVDC transmission lines is proposed based on Sparrow Search Algorithm (SSA)-Variational Mode Decomposition (VMD) and Hilbert phase difference. On the basis of analyzing the directional characteristics of the current fault component at both ends of the rectifier and inverter sides under different faults, SSA is first used to optimize the parameters of VMD. The residual components representing the direction of the current fault component at both ends are extracted through VMD, and then the Hilbert phase difference of the residual components at both ends is calculated to identify faults inside and outside the line area. In addition, fault pole selection can be achieved based on the ratio of the sum of multi-band Hilbert energy of single-terminal voltage fault components at the positive and negative poles. Simulation experiments have shown that the proposed protection scheme can quickly and effectively identify fault and has good tolerance to transition resistance and noise interference.

A novel dc fault protection scheme based on intelligent network for meshed dc grids

This paper proposes a fault detection and classification scheme for multi-terminal high voltage direct current (MT-HVdc) lines by integrating discrete wavelet transform (DWT) multi-resolution analysis with artificial neural networks (ANNs). Previously, such intelligent protection schemes used manual approaches or arbitrary rules of thumb to optimize a set of hyperparameters of the neural networks without applying any optimization algorithm. In order to improve accuracy, this work proposes an efficient Bayesian Optimization (BO) approach for evaluating and establishing the regulated hyperparameters for ANNs. The DWT multi-resolution analysis (MRA) and Parseval’s theorem are used to extract energy variation for various faults. The energy variation of fault signals at different scales is fed into a multi-stage model to optimize the hyperparameters of neural networks with minimal training setup time and compute effort. After training, the data-based algorithm is implemented in a single-end main and coordinated secondary unit with control logic. The proposed scheme intends to detect internal short-circuit dc faults as quickly as possible and cover the failure of the main unit with expedited backup action. The findings of the study reveal that the proposed scheme can accurately detect internal faults in a variety of testing conditions and remain stable against external faults or disturbances with an average recognition accuracy of 99.38%.

Adaptive fault ride through control of VSM Grid-forming converters

Recently, many high voltage direct current (HVdc) transmission lines are being constructed with the intention of becoming “backbones” of future power grids. Grid-forming (GFM) controlled Voltage Source Converters (VSCs) are anticipated to provide significant stability advantages compared with Grid-following (GFL) VSCs in HVdc converters connected to weak ac grids or to grids with high penetration of renewable inverter-based resources (IBRs). This paper proposes an adaptive fault ride through controller for Virtual Synchronous Machine (VSM) GFM control, which has significantly improved fault ride through capability over the more conventional GFM control with cascaded or switchable current limiting. The performance of the proposed adaptive control is investigated using Electromagnetic Transient (EMT) simulation. The results show that the proposed adaptive control has superior post disturbance recovery from ac faults as well as phase angle shifts, and overcomes the instability reported in GFM converters connected to strong ac networks.

Finite Element Method Assisted Audible Noise Detection for Overhead Line Conductors Using the Cage Experiment

Audible noise (AN) has been the main concern in recent years when considering electromagnetic environmental impact in designing overhead lines (OHLs). Driven by the increased demand of high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission lines, a novel corona cage experiment is built in association with an acoustic simulation using the finite element method (FEM). The characteristics of the acoustic wave propagation within the testing hall are analyzed using FEM, and the optimized locations for AN detection are determined. On the basis of complying with measurement standards, the location of the measurement is selected to be closer to the sound source and further away from the reflecting surface, to generate more accurate measurement results. In the designated test hall for this paper, the influence of refraction and reflection of sound waves is not obvious. The attenuation of sound waves below 4 kHz is negligible, while for higher frequencies such as 4 kHz and 8 kHz it is significant. Finally, FEM simulation is used to optimize the location for measurement microphones, and further experiments are carried out to verify its accuracy.

Non-unit Protection for Asymmetrical DC Line Faults in Bipolar LCC-HVDC Transmission Systems

The faults in high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission lines cause a sudden rise in DC, resulting in over-stressing of converter valves and transformer windings. DC line faults of longer duration, or permanent nature, will lead to a severe disturbance in the associated AC network as well. Thus, the HVDC line faults must be detected immediately to interrupt the fault current by initiating proper actions of control and protection. This paper implements a new method to detect the asymmetrical (pole-to-ground) faults in the conventional bipolar LCC-HVDC transmission system. The proposed method defines a Fault Indicating Parameter (FIP) based on the transient voltage and current elements of each pole. The transient elements are obtained based on single-end measurements. Single-end or non-unit measurements lead to the development of simple, cost-effective and fast protection criteria. Also, the method is applicable to faults close to the line boundary and of high resistivity. A two-terminal bipolar LCC-HVDC transmission system, based on ±500 kV, 1000 MW and 900 km length, is used to evaluate the performance of the proposed technique in offline mode, using MATLAB/Simulink software. Also, the results are validated using an OPAL-RT real-time simulator under divergent fault conditions. The simulation results prove the robustness, selectiveness and accuracy of the proposed scheme.

An Improved Method of Traveling Wave Protection for DC Lines Based on the Compensation of Line-Mode Fault Voltage

The protection of high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line is the key to development of the HVDC transmission technology. To deal with the problem that the traditional traveling wave protection (TWP) has low sensitivity under high resistance faults, an improved TWP scheme based on the compensation of the line-mode component of fault voltage (LMCFV) is proposed. The expressions of the LMCFV of HVDC system at different fault locations are derived. Conclusions can be drawn that the LMCFV and fault resistance are linear when the DC line fault occurs, whereas the linear state will be broken for the external fault. Based on this, the LMCFV for the metal fault occurring at the DC line midpoint is used as the reference value to compensate for the faults in other cases of the HVDC systems. The protection scheme constructed based on the compensatory LMCFV and compensation coefficient can accurately identify fault of the DC line. Finally, a <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\pm }$</tex-math></inline-formula> 800 kV model of HVDC systems is built in PSCAD to verify the protection performance. The effect of fault resistance can be eliminated by compensatory LMCFV, and the DC line fault can be quickly and reliably identified by the simulation results.

Short-term operation of cascade hydropower system sharing flexibility via high voltage direct current lines for multiple grids peak shaving

The escalating pressure for peak shaving presents a significant challenge for the power grid's operation, particularly with the rapid growth of renewable energies. Huge cascade hydropower stations (CHS) send power to the local power grid and multiple power grids via long-distance high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission lines, how to share hydropower flexibility for multiple power grids in peak shaving while considering constraints of hydropower and HVDC lines challenges power dispatching management. This study proposed a multiple power grids peak shaving model of cascade hydropower stations with HVDC sharing flexibility for receiving power grids. Firstly, the objective of minimizing the peak-valley difference of multiple power grids is adopted. The model then takes into account the operation constraints of CHSs and HVDC tie-lines to share hydropower flexibility. Finally, the model is transformed into a Mixed-Integer Linear Programming problem through piecewise linearization. The case studies of practical examples in southwest China show that the proposed model reduces peak-valley differences by 23.3%, 46.9%, 99.1% and 19.6%, 34.3%, 99.5% for three receiving power grids in two typical days by sharing hydropower flexibility. Moreover, adjusting the HVDC daily power regulation times and electricity deviation tolerance helps coordinate power grids to improve their peak shaving performance.

Minimization of Electric Fields Underneath High Voltage Direct Current Transmission Lines Based on Shielding Technique

Minimization of Electric Fields Underneath High Voltage Direct Current Transmission Lines Based on Shielding Technique

Dynamic interactive characteristics between icicle growth and corona discharge on HVDC outdoor insulators during icing accretion

AbstractIn order to improve the stability and reliability of high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission lines in cold regions, this article investigated the corona discharges and the icicle growth characteristics on outdoor insulators under DC voltages. The experiments were conducted at CIGELE laboratory at University of Quebec. The simulation model of corona discharges and the theoretical model of icicle growth were established. The dynamic process and interactive characteristics between the icicle growth and corona discharges under different HVDC voltages were obtained. The results showed that the discharge activity was strong and the cooling effect of ionic air was weak under negative DC voltage, resulting in a large number of bubbles inside the icicle. More negative ions were produced under negative DC voltage, which enhanced the polarisation of water droplets, leading to a greater density of ice beads outside the icicles. In addition, the longest icicles of each insulator under high humidity could bridge the shed gap. The accumulated charge and leakage current were higher under negative DC voltage, as well as the corona discharge at the top of the icicles lasted longer. Therefore, the negative DC corona discharge more significantly inhibited the growth of the icicle, resulting in a slower growth rate of the icicles.

Non-unit protection for long-distance LCC-HVDC transmission lines based on waveform characteristics of voltage travelling waves

Currently, the voltage-derivative-based protection (VDBP) method has been applied in High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) lines as primary protection. But it has the problem of low reliability to high-resistance faults, and even more difficult or fail when applying to long distance lines. For such circumstances, current differential protection will play backup protection role with slow operation speed. Therefore, HVDC transmission lines require high reliable and high-speed protection scheme. In this paper, the complex frequency domain expressions of the line-mode fault component voltage (LFCV) at the line end as well as its waveform characteristics for internal and external faults are derived respectively. Based on the theoretical analysis of the LFCV at the line end, a novel non-unit protection scheme utilizing the waveform similarity coefficient is proposed. A ± 800 kV HVDC system built in PSCAD/EMTDC is used to verify the feasibility and validity of the proposed protection method. Comprehensive simulation results show that the proposed scheme can accurately identify internal and external faults, including high resistance faults (600 Ω) and long-distance faults (over 2000 km).

A New Hybrid Method to Assess Available Transfer Capability in AC–DC Networks Using the Wind Power Plant Interconnection

This article presents a very effective and exact technique for evaluating dynamic available transfer capability (ATC) using a fast differential equation power flow (DEPF) and Newton–Raphson–Seydel, taking into account the initial contingency (n-1) scenarios and the normal system condition. We indicated that instead of simply inverting the Jacobian matrix, the inverse computation time of the DEPF may be substantially decreased by inverting the submatrices. A hybrid technique was developed for Dynamic ATC calculation using a mixture of the static and dynamic methods. Installing the high voltage direct current (HVdc) line is taken into account in the ATC calculations because HVdc is the backbone of the future transmission network. The challenge of integrating wind power plants and big loads into the future network is also explored in this article. In an attempt to rectify earlier techniques, an estimate of the potential energy boundary surface was also used in conjunction to assess transient stability. This technique was effectively applied on IEEE 39 bus, IEEE 118 bus, Iowa State 145-bus, IEEE 300-bus, the east of Iran (1153 buses), and Khorasan network (4438 buses) systems for different bilateral/ multilateral transactions.

An Improved Calculation Method Based on Newton–Raphson Method for Ion Flow Field of UHVDC Transmission Lines at High Altitude

The fast and accurate solution of the total electric field and ion current density is crucial for the electromagnetic environment of ultra high voltage direct current (UHVDC) transmission lines. In this article, an improved method based on Newton–Raphson method (NRM) and upstream finite element method (UFEM) is proposed to calculate the ion flow field under complex conditions. According to the gas motion theory, the corona-onset electric field, ion mobility, and recombination coefficient are obtained at high altitude and put into the ion flow field model in this article. Subsequently, the charge density is used to solve Poisson’s equation, and the current continuity equations are calculated by UFEM. After that, the charge density of the conductor surface is updated based on NRM. These three parts are iterated repeatedly until the convergence conditions are met. According to the test results of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\pm$</tex-math> </inline-formula> 800-kV UHVDC transmission line at high altitude, the validity and rationality of the proposed method are verified. The result demonstrates that due to the reduction of atmospheric pressure at the high altitude, the corona-onset electric field decreases, and the ion mobility and recombination coefficient increase, which makes the total electric field and ion current density at ground level increase. Compared with the traditional methods, the improved method is insensitive to the initial value of the surface charge density. Moreover, this proposed method can effectively improve the convergence ability and achieve the stable and fast calculation of the ion flow field at high altitude.

FRT Capability Enhancement of Offshore Wind Farm by DC Chopper

Offshore wind farms (OWF) are establishing their position to be the next strategy to expand the growth horizon of wind power production. For proper integration of OWFs into the existing grid, the voltage source converter (VSC)-based high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission is being vastly utilized. For the stable operation of the existing grid, these VSC-HVDC-connected OWFs need to abide by the fault ride through (FRT) grid codes. Though there are many proposed solutions to tackle the FRT problem of the onshore wind farms, all of them cannot be applied to the OWFs. The OWFs cannot respond to the onshore faults depending solely on local measurements. Additionally, there are very few techniques available for FRT capability enhancement of the doubly fed induction generator (DFIG)-based OWFs. One notable solution is the use of the DC chopper resistor across the HVDC line. No intelligent controller is yet to be reported for better control of the DC chopper resistor. To enhance the performance of the DC chopper resistor in enhancing the FRT capability of the DFIG-based OWF, a particle swarm optimization (PSO)-based nonlinear controller is proposed. Simulations carried out in the Matlab/Simulink environment reveal that the PSO-optimized nonlinear controller-based DC chopper is very effective in maintaining the FRT of the DFIG-based OWF systems. Additionally, the proposed method provides better FRT performance than that of the conventional controller-based DC chopper.

Economic viability assessments of high voltage direct current for wind energy systems

This research shows an economic assessment for decision-makers of high voltage direct current utilization in wind energy systems applied to a case study in Turkey. The increasing energy demand in Turkey can be supplied effectively by this transmission in long distances and leading the use of renewable energy sources. Thereby, wind energy systems are being one of the main developed renewable sources, but the economic feasibility of its feature has been demonstrated only in some cases. The transmission of wind energy is possible both inside a country and between the countries, depending on the deployments about the utilization of high voltage direct current technology, operating with renewable energy systems. Thus, life-cycle cost scenarios are proposed by recommending a 1,000 km length high voltage direct current overhead transmission line in optimum economic conditions between Canakkale and Samsun-Bafra to transport energy from wind farms. The economic feasibility of these systems can be proven by showing the comparison between investment cost and profit from the 25 years life-time of the project. A novel cumulative cash flow analysis is applied for this comparison employing the net present value. A voltage source converter and a current commuted converter are considered in the scenarios. The findings show that voltage source converter can be chosen for both overhead and cable transmission for wind energy systems with the need of government subsidies in the investment. Moreover, the possibility of the investment is discussed through economic terms, i.e., the positive externality, the opportunity cost and the economies of scale. Therefore, this study can be taken as a pre-model for both the other regions of Turkey and for the developing countries.

Analysis of the blackout risk reduction when segmenting large power systems using lines with controllable power flow

Large electrical transmission networks are susceptible to undergo very large blackouts due to cascading failures, with a very large associated economical cost. In this work we propose segmenting large power grids using controllable lines, such as high-voltage direct-current lines, to reduce the risk of blackouts. The method consists in modifying the power flowing through the lines interconnecting different zones during cascading failures in order to minimize the load shed. As a result, the segmented grids have a substantially lower risk of blackouts than the original network, with reductions up to 60% in some cases. The control method is shown to be specially efficient in reducing blackouts affecting more than one zone.

Artificial Neural Network-based Fault Location in Terminal-hybrid High Voltage Direct Current Transmission Line

In this article, a fault location technique based on artificial neural networks (ANN) for Terminal-Hybrid LCC-VSC-HVDC has been assessed and scrutinized. As is known, in conventional HVDC systems (LCC-based and VSC-based HVDCs), the same type of filter is used on both sides due to the use of similar converters in both sender and receiver terminals. In this article, it is concluded that due to the use of two different types of converters at the both ends of the utilized Terminal-hybrid LCC-VSC-HVDC system, and the use of different DC filters on both sides, fault location using positive and negative pole currents of the rectifier side has much better results than the rest of input signals. Therefore, it will be finalized that by increasing and designing suitable DC filters on the transmission line of HVDC systems, fault localization matter will be remarkably and surprisingly facilitated. Nowadays, the fault location of HVDC transmission lines with a value of more than 1% is generally discussed in most articles. In this research, the fault location with a value of 0.0045%, i.e., a distance of 22.5 meters from the fault point in the most satisfactory case is obtained, which shows the absolute feasibility of the ANN along with the wavelet transform. To validate the proposed method, a ±100 KV, Terminal-hybrid LCC-VSC-HVDC system is simulated via MATLAB. The outcomes verify that the proposed technique works perfectly under various fault locations, resistances, and fault types.

Numerical Investigation on the Effects of Wind and Shielding Conductor on the Ion Flow Fields of HVDC Transmission Lines

Ion flow field is an important aspect of high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission lines. In this paper, we apply the upwind finite volume method for solving the ion flow field of three HVDC configurations to clarify the effect of the wind and the role of shielding conductors. For the monopolar configuration installation, the ground current distribution with underbuilt shield wires was studied numerically and experimentally. For the ±250 kV bipolar configuration, the calculated peak electric field and current density are verified with the values in a reference. The ±500 kV bipolar configuration is used to investigate the change in electric field and ion current within the same corridors of the existing HVAC lines. We analyze the ion flow field with and without the dedicated metallic return conductor (DMRC). In the absence of wind, the maximum of the electric field is lower than that of the HVAC lines and the current density is very low on the ground. In the presence of wind, the electric field and the current distribution become unsymmetrical on the ground level. The peak current density increases significantly on the downwind side. The HVDC line without DMRC has the electric field peak higher than that of the HVAC lines. With the higher wind shear coefficient, the peak of the electric field and the current density increases on the downwind side. Overall investigations summarize that DMRC can effectively reduce the peak of the electric field to be lower than that of the existing 500 kV HVAC lines under all wind conditions.

Revealing interactions between HVDC cross-area flows and frequency stability with explainable AI

The transition to renewable energy sources challenges the operation and stability of the electric power system. Wind and solar power generation are volatile and uncertain, and energy sources may be located far away from the centers of the load. High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) lines enable long-distance power transmission at low losses, both within and between different synchronous power grids. HVDC interconnectors between different synchronous areas can be used to balance volatile generation by leveraging their fast control behavior, but rapid switching may also disturb the power balance. In this article, we analyze the interaction of HVDC interconnector operation and load-frequency control in different European power grids from operational data. We use explainable machine learning to disentangle the various influences affecting the two systems, identify the key influences, and quantify the interrelations in a consistent way. Our results reveal two different types of interaction: Market-based HVDC flows introduce deterministic frequency deviations and thus increase control needs. Control-based HVDC flows mitigate frequency deviations on one side as desired but generally disturb frequency on the other side. The analysis further provides quantitative estimates for the control laws and operation strategies of individual HVDC links, for which there is little public information. Furthermore, we quantify the importance of HVDC links for the frequency dynamics, which is particularly large in the British grid.