A Control System for HVDC Transmission by Voltage Sourced Converters

0 c
Tatsuhito Nakajima, Member, IEEE
Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc.
I 8
(Chubu Electric Power Co.)
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Abstract : A national technical project is under way
in J apan to develop a high-power voltage sourced
converter and its control system for the future dc
interconnection between ac systems. Three
prototype 53MVA GTO-based converters were
manufactured and went into operation. As for the
control system, the voltage margin method for two
terminal, and the 2-stage dc voltage control method
for multi-terminal dc link were developed Field
testing is being carried out at Shin-Shinano
Substation of Tokyo Electric Power Company.
Satisfactory results verifies the superiority of the dc
link with voltage sourced converters.
I. Introduction
The power utilities and Central Research Institute of
Electric Power Industry (CRIEPI) in J apan are jointly
carrying out a long-range R&D program subsidized by
the Agency of Natural Resources and Energy, a
national government organization, aimed at applying
advanced power electronics technology to the
reinforcement of power systems interconnection [ 13.
One of the projects in this R&D program is to provide
a voltage sourced converter, with much higher voltage
and power, and higher reliability and efficiency, as to
be applied to the future dc interconnection between ac
power systems or HVDC (High Voltage DC) long-
distance bulk power transmission[2]. Toshiba Corp.,
Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and Hitachi Ltd. are
participating i n the R&D project for manufacturing
the prototype equipment for field tests.
The reason for developing the voltage sourced
converter is, it has the following features which is
difficult to be expected by the conventional line
commutated converter.
(1) The converter can transfer the active power
continuously even if a severe voltage dip or
waveform distortion has occurred in the ac
system.
(2) The converter can control the reactive power
independently of the active power.
(3) The direction of power flow can be reversed
without any switching operation in the multi-
terminal dc configuration.
Shoichi Irokawa, Member, I EEE
Toshiba Corporation
A 300MW link using GTO (gate turn-off thyristor)
based converters is assumed as the development
target, and many technologies have been newly
developed. Details of the development works for the
converter, the control system and the transformer
were reported in [2], [3] and [4] respectively.
Currently, the R&D project is being proceeded to the
last stage. Three 53MVA GTO converters were
installed at the Shin-Shinano Substation of Tokyo
Electric Power Company, and field testing is being
conducted.
This paper describes the control scheme for the two
terminal HVDC and the multi-terminal HVDC
systems consisting of voltage sourced converters.
Field test results are also reported.
11. Field Testing in Actual Power Systems
60 Hz system
Fig. 1 Circuit configuration for field testing
0-7803-5569-5/99/$10.00 0 1999 IEEE 1113
Fig. 1 shows the circuit configuration for the field
tests. Terminal A is connected to the 60Hd275kV
systems in Chubu Electric Power Company.
Terminal B and Terminal C are connected to the
50Hd66kV systems. They are tested in a
STATCOM mode, a normal BTB mode, or a three
terminal mode without a transmission line.
PAPPB .
: INV
The converter rating of each terminal is 53 MVA
(37.5 MW and 37.5 MVar). The reason why the
reactive power rating was selected relatively large,
was these converters would often be operated in the
STATCOM mode. The dc voltage rating is 10.6 kV
and four 6 kV - 6 kA GTOs are connected in series in
an arm. The GTO converter is operated by 9-Pulse
PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) in this R&D project.
Although it is not depicted in Fig. 1, two 300 MW line
commutated frequency converters are commercially
operated in the same substation.
PA<PB
REC
111. Control Scheme for Two Terminal DC Link
The control system for the two terminal dc link is
composed of terminal controllers and a master
controller as illustrated in Fig. 2. The mai n
functions for controlling the active power, the
reactive power and the dc voltage are incorporated
in the termi nal controllers. The master controller
is provided with the minimum set of functions
necessary for coordinated operation of the terminals
in the dc circuit, such as start and stop, and power
flow reversal. There is no need for an exchange of
fast signals between the two terminals, since each
terminal can be operated alone unlike the current
sourced converter system. The dc link by the
voltage sourced converters is with minimal reliance
on the communication system.
Master controller
btart and stop eequences
0 power flow reference
calcula tion
P.4 P R
--
I
current control is basic function in the current
sourced converter system, the dc voltage control (DC-
AVR) is the fundamental control in the voltage
sourced converter system.
The DC-AVR tries to keep the dc voltage to the
reference value Edref by adjusting PA, until PA
reaches the upper limit or the lower limit. For
example, if the dc voltage is lower, the DC-AVR
increases PA until it reaches the upper limit to
maintain the dc voltage. When PB is larger than the
upper limit, however, the dc voltage decreases further.
On the contrary, if the dc system voltage is higher
than Edref, the DC-AVR reduces PA.. When PB is
smaller than the lower limit, however, the dc voltage
increases further.
Terminal controller
active Dower control (APR)
I terminal 1 1 t;rmina, 1
controller A controller B
reactive power control(AQR)
voltage margin A Ed
dc voltage control (DC-AVR)
operatin lower limi
ac voltage control (AC-AVR) T
J- Termi nal B
Fig. 2 Hierarchy of control system for BTB
A control scheme called voltage margin method was
developed for the two terminal dc link. Fig 3 shows
the Ed - P characteristic of Terminal A. As the dc
I n the current sourced converter system, the current
margin is applied to avoid the unfavorable interaction
between the current controls of each terminal.
Ed
: I F Termi nal A
I upper :
I
I I
limit
I
PI
Fig 4. Operating point in voltage margin method
1114
Similarly, the voltage margin is introduced in the
voltage sourced converter system as shown in Fig. 4.
The voltage margin is defined as the difference
between the dc reference voltage of the two terminals.
When the active power is to be transmitted from
terminal B to Terminal A, the voltage margin is
subtracted from the dc reference voltage for Terminal
A.
(Dower'flow from
I n Fig. 4, the intersection of the characteristics of
each terminal is the operating point. Terminal B
(REC) determines the dc system voltage and
Terminal A (I AN) controls the active power
determined by the lower limit of the DC-AVR.
B to A)
If the lower limit of the DC-AVR is adjusted by the
output value of the AF'R block with the active power
reference value specified from the master controller,
the value of the active power exchange can be
regulated.
A more detailed control block diagram of the terminal
controller is shown in Fig. 5. The reactive power is
controlled at the AQR or the AC-AVR block
independently of the active power. The reactive
power control part is identical with that of
STATCOM.
Ed
' I f r Terminal A
(power 'flow from1 B to A)
b P4
(a) Before power reversal
Ed
Terminal B
Terminal A
(power flow from A to B)
t I i
Terminal B
7
Terminal A
: gpoi nt
(power flow from A to B)
I
)PA
(b) After power reversal (1)
Term
Fig 6 shows examples of operating points in the
voltage margin method, There are two ways to
reverse the power flow direction. The operating point
before the power reversal is shown in Fig 6(a). The
power is transmitted from Terminal B to A. The
8
I
I A
[P.Q detectiont 4
L PLL ]
IO I
q 4 m - J
Fig. 5 Control block diagram of GTO converter for dc link
I
Ed
operating
Terminal A
- P4
(d) Loss of terminal B
Fig 6. Operating points in case of power
reversal and loss of terminal
1115
direction of power flow can be changed by modifiiing
the lower limit of the DC-AVR of Terminal A as
shown in Fig 6(b).
................................................................................................................
c - - - - - - - -
I
Pmax Pmax Pmax
Another method is to exchange the voltage margin
like the current margin exchange applied in the
system with the current sourced converters. Fig. 6
(c) shows the operating point obtained by this method.
The advantage of this method is that the Ed-P
characteristic of each terminal crosses the P=O line.
Even if one terminal is suddenly stopped, the
remaining terminal can be operated in STATCOM
mode automatically as shown in Fig. 6(d).
The performance of the voltage margin method was
verified by the analogue simulator tests as reported
previously [3].
IV. Control Scheme for Multi-Terminal DC Link
The voltage margin method can be applied to the
multi-terminal dc link. To reduce the reliance on
communication system further, however, 2-stage dc
voltage control method was developed and applied
to the prototype controllers in this R&D project.
Voltage determining
Ed Pmin
Fig. 7 Control block diagram of the 2-stage dc volt CO trol meth d
................................................................................................
REC
REC INV . ' ~ \ a ; : + a ;
INV REC INV
Terminal C
(Voltage determining 1
Terminal A Terminal B
1116
Fig. 7 shows the block diagram of the 2-stage dc
voltage control method. I n principal, one terminal
determines the dc system voltage and other terminals
control the active powers. I n the voltage
determining terminal, only the DC-AVRL block is
used and its upper limit and lower limit are set to
Pmax and Pmin respectively. I n other terminals,
the lower limit of the DC-AVRL is adjusted by the
output of the DC-AITRH. The upper limit of the DC-
AVRH is modified by the APR output and the lower
limit is fixed to Pmin.
Fig. 8 indicates an example of Ed - P characteristics.
I n this case, Terminal C determines the dc system
voltage. Terminal B is operated at the rated power in
a rectifier mode, and Terminal A is controlled in an
inverter mode. Terminal C receives the remaining
active power taking the loses consumed in the system
into account.
Even if Terminal C is tripped due to some reason, the
remaining terminals can be operated continuously
without modifying the setting values through fast
communication systems. Fig. 9 shows the new
operating points in this case. The voltage
determining terminal is took place from Terminal C
to Terminal A and the stable operation between
Terminal and B is established.
Although the transmission lines are not provided, the
fundamental performance of controller for the multi-
terminal dc link was verified by the field tests. An
example of test results is shown in Fig.10. While
three terminals were operated in accordance with the
setting values as shown in Fig. 9, Terminal C was
forcedly stopped. The reactive power of each
terminal was set to 0 War in this case.
(a) Terminal A
(b) Terminal B
The active power of Terminal C reduced to 0 just after
it was blocked. The dc voltage increased by 15% due
to the surplus active power energy in the dc circuits.
Then Terminal A took place the role of determining
the dc system voltage, and increased the receiving
active power. (The polarity of the active power of
Terminal A is different from those of other terminal.)
The dc voltage was kept to the Edref of Terminal A.
within 120 ms.
Although the active power of Terminal A was
changed, the reactive power was not disturbed.
Both the active and the reactive power of Terminal B
were not changed during this event.
(c) Terminal C
Fig. 10 Waveform during Terminal C tripping out
1117
Pmin Ed Pmin Ed Pmin Ed
.......
92.5%
Pmax : Pmax Pmax
INV REC I NV REC INV REC
Terminal A Terminal B
(a) Before power reversal
Terminal C
Pmin Ed Pmin Ed
Pmax
I NV
Terminal A
Fig
Pmax
REC
Pmax
Terminal C
REC INV 1 REC INV
Terminal B
(b) After power reversal
11. Operating points before and after power reversal
Fig. 12 shows an example of power reversal tests.
Fig. 11 shows the operating points before and after
power reversal in this case. Terminal A and B were
operated in a rectifier mode, and Terminal C was
operated in an inverter mode. I n this case, the
power direction were changed in all terminals by
modifying the active power setting value Pref in each
terminal. Although slight overshooting was
observed in Terminal A which was the voltage
determining terminal, new stable operation was
established within 80 ms. The maximum deviation
i n the dc voltage was less than 6%. The reactive
power of each terminal did not change from the
reference value of 37.5Mvar (inductive).
Although the active power flows were changed in all
terminals in this case, it is possible to keep the active
power i n the specified terminal while the active
powers are modified in other terminals. Especially,
the terminal which has the wide voltage margin like
Terminal C in the case of Fig. 11, would be operated
in constant power. On the contrary, the active
power in the voltage determining terminal like
Terminal A is apt to be affected from other terminals.
Ed-P characteristic should be decided taking this
features into account.
V. CONCLUSION
A control system for the two or multi-terminal dc link
with voltage sourced converters has been established.
The voltage margin method for two terminal system
does not rely on a fast communication system to
coordinate the operation between terminals.
(a) Terminal A
(b) Terminal B
(c) Terminal C
Fig. 12 Waveform during power reversal
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The 2-stage voltage control system reduces the
reliance on the communication system further, and it
is much suitable for multi-terminal dc system. The
performance was verified by the field tests. I n the
event of terminal tripping, the remaining terminals
can continue operation without, modifying the control
setting.
I t is also confirmed that the active and the reactive
power can be controlled with no mutual interference.
VI. REFERENCES
[l ] Y. Sekine, T. Hayashi, et al., "Application of
Power Electronics Technologies to Future
Interconnected Power System in J apan,"
Proceedings of the 1995 CIGRE Tokyo
Symposium, No. 210-03, May 1995.
[2] H. Suzuki, T. Nakajima, et al. ,"Development and
Testing of Prototype Models for a High
Performance 300 MW Self-Commutated AC/DC
Converter," I EEE Transactions on Power
Delivery, vol. 12, No.4, October 1997.
[3] K. Sakamoto, M. Yajima, et al., "Development of
a Control System for a High-Performance Self-
Commutated Converter," I EEE Transactions on
Power Delivery, vol. 13, No. 1, J anuary 1998.
[4] T. Nakajima, H. Suzuki, et. al., "A Converter
Transformer with Series-Connected Line-Side
Windings for a DC Link Using Voltage Source
Converters", Proceedings of the I EEE Power
Engineering Society Winter Meeting, Feb., 1999,
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