UI EE529

Lecture 29

HVDC Control

Series Compensation 1 Fall 2017

UI LCC Reactive power EE529

characteristics Lecture 36

• Operates at lagging power

LCC HVDC
Reactive compensation by switched
filters and shunt capacitor banks
HVDC Controls
factor
• Both rectifier and inverter
operation
• Due to phase control
• Typically reactive power
demand = 55% of station real
power rating at full load
• Qcomp: – typically 35% of station
rating: ac filters plusshunt banks
• Shunt reactors sometimes used
at light load to absorb excess
from filters
2Spring 2017

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UI EE529

Short Circuit Ratio Lecture 36

AC
• Commutation performance
Network
• Voltage stability
• Dynamic performance
SN
• Dynamic overvoltage
• Low order harmonic resonance,
QHF ± QSH • Rule of thumb – ESCR > 2 for LCC
• ESCR = (SN+SG+SSC+-Q)/PDC
QHF ± QSH

T G

SG
SC

SSC

HVDC Controls 3Spring 2017

UI EE529

Control Principles Lecture 36

• Two independent control inputs at each

terminal
• Firing angle  fast
• AC voltage  slow (LTC)
• Synchronized firing with PLL
• Fast control loop for firing commands
• Somewhat slower for regulator

HVDC
4 Controls Spring 2017

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UI EE529

Control Principles Lecture 36

• One terminal controls DC voltage (fast)

• One terminal controls DC current (slower)
• Current order from higher order power
command
• Communication enhances performance
• Required for start up or major changes
• Power flow reversal

HVDC
5 Controls Spring 2017

UI EE529

Simplified Circuit Lecture 36

HVDC
6 Controls Spring 2017

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UI EE529
Static Characteristics Lecture 36

• Alpha min for

rectifier
• Disturbance
• Gamma min at
inverter
• Commutation
failure
• VDCOL

HVDC
7 Controls Spring 2017

UI EE529

Measurements Lecture 36

• DC voltage and current

• AC voltage
• Remote end current or voltage
• Operator commands

HVDC
8 Controls Spring 2017

4
UI EE529

Station Control Lecture 36

• Bipole power order

• Frequency control/limits
• AC voltage control
• Reactive power

HVDC
9 Controls Spring 2017

UI EE529

Bipole Control Lecture 36

• Pole power orders

• Power limits
• Pole balancing

HVDC
10 Controls Spring 2017

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UI EE529

Pole Control Lecture 36

• Pole power
• Firing angles, limits
• Phase limits
• Static characteristics
• Tap changer
• SSR damping
• Power Swing damping
• Pole protection
HVDC
11 Controls Spring 2017

UI EE529

Power Control Lecture 36

• Operator sets power demand

• Compare to measured control
• Set current or voltage order
• Within limits
• Can integrate offset to power order with
frequency slope characteristic
• Can add power modulation control
• SSR damping
HVDC
12 Controls Spring 2017

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UI EE529

DC Faults with LCC Lecture 36

• DC faults
One end will not feed the fault
•
• Use converter control to reverse voltage polarity
• Reverses current direction
• Starves Fault
• Smoothing reactor slows rate of rise of current
• AC faults
• Load rejection
• Commutation failure

HVDC
13 Controls Spring 2017

UI EE529

Lecture 36

 VSCs using PWM and MMCs can control two

variable independently
 Control was done in synchronous dq frame to
improve response
 Inner current regulators and out control
 Current cross coupling term may have small effect
 Impact on ac systems

HVDC Controls Spring 2017

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UI Outer Controls Available EE529

With VSC Lecture 36

 Control Power Flow on DC Link

» Control DC Voltage (at one end)
» Control DC Current (at other end)
 Converters Can Control AC Side Voltage or
Reactive Power
» Relatively Fast Control
» An equivalent to lower voltage ride through
 Power Oscillation Damping
HVDC Controls Spring 2017

UI EE529

Real/Reactive Power Output Lecture 36

HVDC Controls Spring 2017

8
UI EE529

AC Fault Behavior Lecture 36

 Controls will have a huge impact

 Converter topology some effect
» Most topologies are ungrounded
» Transformer may be Yg-D (delta faces converter)
– Some variation with vendors

HVDC Controls Spring 2017

UI EE529

Inner Controls Lecture 36

 Most schemes use inner current regulators

» Fact acting, protect devices from excess currents
» Possibly 2 sets, one each for pos and neg
sequence vd

id,ref PI  +
+ ‐ vd,ref
‐ Controller +

id ωL

iq ωL

iq,ref ‐ PI  ‐
+ ‐ vq,ref
Controller +

vq

HVDC Controls Spring 2017

9
UI EE529

Impact of Inner Controls Lecture 36

 Converter will limit current for ac faults

» Same current for variety of fault locations
» A little different in older schemes
 Doesn’t vary much with converter topology
 Generally fairly balanced currents
 Try to support local voltage
» current at leading power factor
 Some reports of impact on distance protection
HVDC Controls Spring 2017

Impact on Distance
UI EE529
Protection Lecture 36

 Source: L. He, C.C. Liu, “Effects of HVDC Connection for

Offshore Wind Turbines on AC Grid Protection,” 2013 IEEE
PES General Meeting
HVDC Controls Spring 2017

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UI EE529

DC Fault Behavior Lecture 36

 Converter topology
poses problem
 Diodes form
uncontrolled path
» Known since 1980’s
 Pole to pole versus
pole to ground

HVDC Controls Spring 2017

UI EE529

Clearing DC Faults Lecture 36

 To date, no systems use DC breakers for this

problem
 Siemens proposed IGBTs in old HVDC plus
designs
 Full bridge based MMCs can block dc fault currents
» Doubles device count and increases losses
» So schemes use half-bridges
 Rely on ac side breakers to interrupt dc fault
current – point to point systems
HVDC Controls Spring 2017

11
UI AC System Impact
EE529

Lecture 36

 AC system will see dc fault current

» Will most often look like phase to phase fault
» Possibly 3 phase depending on breaker
response time
 Followed by load (or source) rejection since
dc power transfer will go to zero
» Will not see temporary overvoltages as with LCC

HVDC Controls Spring 2017

UI Circuit Interruption Options EE529

Lecture 36

 Muliterminal HVDC Grids will need DC

breakers
» Possibly as little as 2 ms response needed
 Lack of DC breakers (at least fast ones)
» BPA test, metallic earth return breakers
» IGBTs in line (point to point better)
– Drawbacks: ratings, losses and they don’t truly “open”
and “isolate”
» Recent developments HVDC breakers
HVDC Controls Spring 2017

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UI Multiterminal HVDC EE529

Systems Lecture 36

 Multiterminal Connection Options

 Controls
 Mixing LCC and VSC
» Full bridge MMC
» DC/DC converters

HVDC Controls Spring 2017

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