Overview of HVDC Power Transmission Technologies

Abstract

The demand for electricity has been growing very fast with a high impact on global environment conditions. The solution for this is grid access of large amounts of renewable energy resources. This makes the power system complex. A smart solution for this problem is the development of HVDC transmission systems. HVDC is well established and niche technology, which offers reliable long distance bulk energy transmission. There are two types of HVDC technologies, the classic technology using thyristors, and VSC (voltage source converters) technology. VSC-HVDC transmission uses IGBT based voltage source converters with improved control strategies to achieve efficient power transmission and independent control of active and reactive power. VSC-HVDC effectively improves the low voltage ride-through capability of the transmission system to enhance the transient performance of grid interconnection. VSC-HVDC is very suitable for long distance DC power transmission over a number of applications, as will be highlighted in the paper.