Submarine Power Transmission

Vahan Gevorgian, NREL

Clinton T. Hedrington, VIWAPA

June 15-16, 2010

St. Thomas, USVI

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 History of Submarine Power Transmission

Submarine power transmission has been around

for more than a century.

•Early uses—isolated offshore facilities, lighthouses, etc.

•Mid 20th century—power supply of near-shore islands Mercury Arc Valves

(Source: Wikipedia)

•Since 1960s—connection of autonomous grids for better stability

and resource utilization, LCC HVDC

•Modern days—offshore wind, longer-distance power transmission,

network interconnections, increased number of islands connected
to mainland grid, HVDC light, etc.

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 Submarine Transmission Links

North America Europe

•TransBay, CA (HVDC, 53 mi, 600 MW, $450 M),
Siemens
•Vancouver Island, Canada (DC and AC)
•NJ to Long Island (HVDC, 50 mi, 660 MW)
•CT to Long Island (HVDC, 25 mi, 330 MW), ABB

Existing
Under Construction
Rest of the world
Conceptual
•Japan—interisland (50 km HVDC)
•Philippines—interisland (21 km HVDC)
•New Zealand—interisland (40 km, HVDC)
•Australia—Tasmania (290 km, HVDC)
•S. Korea—Cheju Island (100 km, HVDC)

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 HVAC vs. HVDC

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 HVDC Advantages

Advantages
Long-distance transmission with lower costs and losses
No high-capacitance effect on DC (no reactive losses)
More power per conductor, no skin effect, 2 conductors only
Connecting unsynchronized grids, rapid power flow control
Buffer for some disturbances, stabilization of power flows
Multiterminal operation
Good for weaker grids
Helps in integrating large amounts of variable generation

Disadvantages
High cost of power converters
Complexity of control, communications, etc.
Maintenance cost higher than for AC; spare parts needed
HVDC circuit breakers reliability issue

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 Submarine Cable Technologies

•Major submarine cable suppliers: ABB, Prysmian, Nexans, Sumitomo, Fujikura

•Extruded XLPE cables for AC - 420 kV, 1000 MW

Source: ABB
Source: Prysmian

•Extruded cables for DC VSC technology (HVDC light) - 300 kV, 1000MW

•Mass impregnated paper cables for DC - 600kV, 2000MW bi-pole

•HVDC ultra deep technology – 1600 m (2000m possible)

Source: ABB

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 Causes of Submarine Cable Damages

Suspensions Others 18% CIGRE Investigation - 2009

5% – 7000 circuit km of submarine
Cableship power cables
activities 1% Fishing 52%
– 49 faults reported during
Earthquakes Anchors 1990-2005
3% 18% – Only 4 faults identified as
Fish bite 2% “internal”
Dredging /
Drilling 1%
Source: Submarine Power Cables by Thomas Worzyk, Springer, 2009 (page 212)

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 Oahu Wind Integration and
Transmission Study (OWITS)

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 Oahu Wind Integration and Transmission Study

Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI)—October 2008

– Multiyear initiative
– 70% clean energy by 2030 (40% by renewables)
– Agreement between state of Hawaii and HECO
• 400 MW wind from Lanai and/or Molokai to Oahu (Stage 1)
• 100 MW of Oahu on-island wind (Stage 2)

OWITS studies in support of HCEI and HECO—FY09/10

Project Management/Steering Technical Review Committee (TRC)

GE Integration Study EPS Transient Study Electranix Cable Study

(HECO, DOE co-funded) (HECO funded) (DOE funded)

Supporting Data
AWS Truewind and NREL wind and solar data

HECO study of generator flexibility

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 Inputs to OWITS Cable Study
•Potential cable landing points and inter-
island routes have been identified in Ocean
Floor Survey Report (DBEDT)

•Maximum water depth—around 800 m

• Sending and receiving end voltages—138 kV

• PSSE load flow data from HECO

•Information from cable manufacturers

•Electranix expertise in HVDC technology

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 OWITS Option Screening Methodology

18 options analyzed (AC, DC Costs (HVAC) Costs (HVDC)

or combination of both) AC cables DC cables
AC substations DC converter stations
Sea/land cable transition Sea/land cable transition
Fixed compensation reactors -
Other components Other components
AC losses (20 years) DC losses (20 years)
Only 6 selected for detailed
simulation (AC and DC) and Total HVAC cost Total HVDC cost
RFQ

Koolau 200 MW Symmetrical Monopole

Molokai
200 MW

Stage 1
200 MW Pole Lanai

Maui

200 MW

200 MW Pole - Stage 2

Iwilei
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 HVAC Simulations

Spontaneous Operation due

138 kV bus breaker-open 70 mile AC to overvoltage 34.5 kV bus 600 V bus
operation undersea cable protection

200 MW of
230 kV Bus 230 kV bus wind turbines

Receiving end Sending end

Fiberoptic link

230 kV / 733 A
three-core XLPE cable

Not practical for 800m water depths due to heavy weight

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 HVDC Simulations

LVRT/HVRT limits

Voltage (pu)
•Detailed models of VSC in PSCAD
•Traditional control strategy Time (sec)
• Sending end—frequency and AC voltage control
• Receiving end—AC reactive power DC bus voltage control
• Contingency and protection scenarios simulations

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 OWTIS Budget Pricing Analysis

Requests were sent to Prysmian, Areva, Siemens, ABB, Sumitomo, Nexans, etc.

200 MW, 40 mi AC 200 MW, 40 mi DC—monopole

Almost same capital cost

3% ($10 M) more losses over 20 years

Final report goes public in July 2010. Contains conclusions, detailed cost and
technical analysis for all preferred options.

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 OWITS Future Detailed Simulations

More detailed study is needed for wind farm/VSC converter interactions

Impact of turbines types on proposed cable system
Possibility of wind farms to provide inertial response to the system
Type 3—partially rated power converter

Type 4—fully rated power converter

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 Cable Study for USVI Submarine Transmission

Peak loads: 88 MW—STT, 52 MW—STX

Transmission voltage: 34.5kV—STT
No short undersea route between STT and STX
PREPA—5.8 GW generating capacity/3.6 GW peak load

50 mi

80–100 mi to stay above

2,000 m depths

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 USVI Cable Study—Necessary Steps

Determine power capacity of Puerto Rico-USVI interconnect (several scenarios possible)

Identify potential landing points, study existing infrastructure on both ends
Environmental evaluation (routes, cable burial, sea/land transitions, etc.)
 Identify candidate cable configurations
Examine capital costs, losses and reliability for HVDC and AC options
Perform detailed technical evaluation and modeling of preferred options (PSCAD)
• Protection, control strategy, synchronization
• LVRT, severe contingency disturbances, impact on frequency, voltage stability
• Impact of faults on grids at both ends of the cable
• Impact of high penetration variable generation on cable operation
• Communications between both cable ends
 Requests for budgetary price estimates from manufacturers
 Final evaluations, report, RFQs

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 USVI Cable Study—Necessary Steps

 Studies can be done by WAPA/NREL team, or by a consultant

 Significant involvement from PREPA is necessary
 Models of WAPA and PREPA grids are needed (PSLF or PSSE)
Results of cable study can be used by other working groups
• Future cost of energy
• Regulation/reserves
• Impacts on possible energy storage studies

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 Questions?

Source: www.nexans.com

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