PhD Miguel ROMERO RODRIGUEZ “Supervisory control synthesis for MMC-based HVDC systems”
This work proposes a method for the full development, from conception to implementation, of the supervisory control of a multi-terminal HVDC (MT-HVDC) system.
This work proposes a method for the full development, from conception to implementation, of the supervisory control of a multi-terminal HVDC (MT-HVDC) system.
The role of Modular Multilevel Converters (MMCs) in HVDC grid greatly differs depending on whether it is an offshore or an onshore station. From the common point in their control schemes, an unexploited ability of the MMC—the controllability of the internally stored energy—is identified in both offshore and onshore applications. The virtual capacitor control, previously proposed by the authors, makes use of this degree of freedom to provide energy contribution to the DC grid. The impact of this control is demonstrated by time-domain simulations of a five-terminal HVDC grid.
The objective of this study is to propose a methodology for the transient stability assessment of a simple but representative AC grid in case of DC fault. After validation of the methodology, some HVDC link protection criteria are defined in terms of the Critical Time to Return to Operation. These criteria will be helpful for the design of HVDC protection systems or for the sizing of future HVDC links in order to respect the constraints of the existing protection strategies.
This paper reviews a few of the major control solutions for AC grid forming and operation of DR-HVDC based OWFs. Then these solutions are compared based on their approach in solving the major challenges involved.
In this paper, a thorough analysis of the converter arm behavior is presented, which gives an analytic expression of the lower limit of the energy as a function of the converter operating point and the connected grid conditions. The relation between the lower energy limit and the operating power is analyzed by using the practical MMC specifications of an HVDC application. An experimental test of a small-scale MMC mock-up demonstrates the validity of the theoretical analysis.
With a growing number of commercial installations around the world, HVDC technology increased its presence and importance in the power systems. Among various converter topologies, the Modular Multilevel Converters (MMCs) are considered as the most suitable one for HVDC application today. Besides its recognised advantages over conventional converters, the MMC has an interesting extra degree of freedom, which is the energy stored in the distributed cell capacitors. Although the amount of this energy is relatively small, it can provide a significant contribution to the DC system stability when properly used. This paper presents experiment results that demonstrate the effectiveness of virtual capacitor control. This control, previously proposed by the authors, makes use of the above additional degree of freedom to attenuate fluctuations of the DC voltage, which tend to be inherently volatile against power disturbances compared to the frequency of conventional AC systems. Under the virtual capacitor control, the MMC behaves as if there were a capacitor on the DC side of the converter whose size is easily adjusted by the control variable and can be even bigger than the physical capacitor actually embedded in the converter. In practice, the emulation of the capacitor dynamics is realised by the auxiliary control which adjusts the exchange of the energy between the stacked cell capacitors and the DC grid during the transient. Thus, no adverse effect is imposed on the AC grid. Furthermore, the system operator can optionally adjust the equivalent capacitance of the system to achieve desired mitigation level of DC voltage fluctuation during the operation. Therefore, this additional degree of freedom can largely extend the operability of the DC systems. The feasibility and effectiveness of the virtual capacitor control is demonstrated by experimental results obtained by using a small-scale MMC prototype.
Multi-terminal high voltage direct current (MTDC) grids, or supergrids, are considered an interesting solution to integrate large amounts of renewable power and release congestion of existing AC power grids. Nonetheless, safe and reliable operation of such grids require the development of new DC protection systems.
The scope of this thesis includes control and management of the Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC)-based Multi-Terminal Direct Current (MTDC).
Large offshore wind farms will be important players within the future energy landscape. What is the expected benefit for a project is an essential issue from Investor side, considering both technical and economic aspects. Levelized Cost Of Energy - LCOE - is a standard economic indicator which allows to assess the economic viability of a project.
This paper presents the nonlinear control of a Fully-Fed Synchronous Machine based Variable Speed Pumped Storage Plant (FFSM PSP).