HVDC TRANSMISSION

Part 1

Text Books:
Direct

current Transmission by EDWARD WILSON

KIMBARK(Wiley interscience, New york,1971).
High Voltage D.C.Power Transmission system by
K.R.PADIYAR IISc Bangalore, New Age International
Publishers Ltd.

Overview:
General

Aspects of DC transmission and comparison of

it with AC transmission.
Converter Circuits
Analysis of the Bridge converter
Control of HVDC Converters and Systems.
Protection.

PART A (Unit 1 & 2)

General Aspects of DC Transmission and comparison of it
with AC Transmission
Historical Sketch
Constitution of EHV AC and DC links.
Limitations and Advantages of AC and DC transmission.

Historical Sketch:
Evolution of Power Systems:
Late 1870s- Commercial use of electricity.
In 1882- First Electric power system which includes Generator,
Cable,fuse,Load designed by Thomas Edison at Pearl Street station in
New york.
It was DC System (Low Voltage 110V),underground cable is used to
distribute the power to consumers. Only 59 consumers are benefited
by this low voltage DC system. Incandescent lamps are used as a load.
In 1884-Motors were developed by Frank Sprague. After the invention
of motors electricity is used more effectively or it was appreciated.
In 1886 -Limitation of DC
High losses and Voltage Drop
Transformation of Voltage required.

Continues

Transformer and AC distribution (150 lamps) developed by William

Stanley of Westing house.

In 1889- First AC transmission system in USA between Willamette

falls and Portland, Oregon. It was 1-Phase,4KV,Over 21 Km.

Before that in the year of 1888-N.Tesla developed Poly Phase

system and had patents of Generator,Motor,Transformer,
transmission lines. Later Westing House bought it.

In 1890-Controversy on whether industry should standardize AC or

DC.
Edison-DC System

Westing House-AC System

Later because of features of AC System, its dominated

1.

Voltage increase is possible

2.

Simpler and cheaper generators and motors.

Continues
In

1893-First 3-Phase line ,2.3KV,12 Km in California .

Improvement in voltages year by year,
1922-165KV
1923-230KV
1935-287KV
1953-330KV
1965-500KV
1966-735KV
1969-765KV
1990-1100KV

Continues
Standard

voltages are 115,138,161,230KV preferred for High

Voltage (HV)lines.
Remaining 345,500,765KV are Extra High Voltage(EHV)
lines.
For interconnection of AC systems, We need fixed frequency.
60Hz-US and Canadian countries
50Hz-Europe and Asian countries

Entry of HVDC system:

HVDC

transmission was designed by a French Engineer,

RENE THURY. Simultaneously AC system was also
developed slowly.
In between 1880-1911,atleast 11 Thury system were installed
in Europe. The prominent was Mouteirs to Lyons(France) in
1906. It comprises 180Km(4.5 km underground
cable),4.3MW,57.6KV,75A.
Features :
DC series generators were used.
Constant control current mode.

Continues.
In1920-Transverter(Mechanicalconverter-polyphase

transformer)were developed. Again AC system dominated.

In 1938-All the Thury system were dismantled. Because in
DC system, we need frequent maintenance , cost also is not
effective.
Again AC revolution back till 1950. In the year of 1950,
Mercury arc valves (Bulky converter) it was possible to
convert AC to DC.
In 1954, first HVDC System between Sweden and Gotland
island was commissioned by cable. Conversion carried out by
Mercury arc rectifier. Again people think about DC
transmission because of the limitation in AC system.

Limitations of HVAC
Reactive

power loss

Stability
Current

carrying capacity
Skin and Ferranti effect
Power flow control is not possible.

Advantages of HVDC
No

reactive power loss

No Stability Problem
No Charging Current
No Skin & Ferranti Effect
Power control is possible
Requires less space compared to ac for same voltage
rating and size.
Ground can be used as return conductor
Less corona loss and Radio interference

Continues
Cheaper

for long distance transmission

Asynchronous operation possible
No switching transient
No transmission of short circuit power
No compensation problem
Low short circuit current
Fast fault clearing time

Disadvantages of HVDC
Cost

of terminal equipment is high

Introduction of harmonics
Blocking of reactive power
Point to point transmission
Limited overload capacity
Huge reactive power requirement at the converter
terminals.

Comparison of AC and DC Transmission

The relative merits of the two modes of transmission(AC
and DC) which need to considered by a system planner are
based on the following factors:
Economics of Transmission
Technical performance
Reliability
A major feature of power systems is the continuous
expansion necessitated by increasing power demand .
This implies that the establishment of a particular line
must be consider as a part of an overall long term system
planning.

Economics of power transmission:

The

cost of transmission line includes the investment and

operational costs.
Investment cost includes,
Right of way
Transmission towers
Conductors
Insulators
Terminal equipment

Operational costs includes

It mainly due to cost of losses

Right of Way(RoW):
An

electric transmission line right-of-way (ROW) is a

strip of land used by Electrical utilities to construct,
operate, maintain and repair the transmission line
facilities.
Rights of way may also include the purchase of rights to
remove danger trees. A danger tree is a tree outside the
right of way but with the potential to do damage to
equipment within the right of way. If the danger tree
falls or is cut down, it could strike poles, towers, wires,
lines, appliances or other equipment and disrupt the flow
of electricity to our customers.

Images for (RoW)

Continues

Continues
This

Implies that for a given power level, DC lines

requires less RoW, Simpler , and cheaper towers and
reduced conductors and insulator costs.
The power losses are also reduced with DC as there are
only two conductors are used.
No skin effect with DC is also beneficial in reducing
power loss marginally.
The dielectric losses in case of power cables is also very
less for DC transmission.
The corona effects tends to less significant on DC
conductors than for AC and this leads to choice of
economic size of conductors with DC transmission.

Continues
The

other factors that influence the line cost are the cost
of compensation and terminal equipment.
In dc lines do not require compensation but the terminal
equipment costs are increased due to the presence of
converters and filters.

Variation of cost with line length:

Description:
AC

tends to be more economical than DC for distances

less than Break even distance and costlier for longer
distances.
The breakeven distances can vary from 500Km to
800Km in overhead lines.

Technical performance
The

DC transmission has some positive features which

are lacking in AC transmission. These are mainly due to
the fast controllability of power in DC lines through
converter control.
Advantages:
Full control over power transmitted.
The ability to enhance transient and dynamic
stability in associated AC networks.
Fast control to limit fault currents in DC lines.
This makes it feasible to avoid DC breakers in two
terminal DC links.

Continues
STABILITY LIMITS:

The power transfer in AC lines is dependent on the angle

difference between voltage phasors at the two ends. For a
given power level, this angle increases with distance.
The maximum power transfer is limited by the
considerations of steady state and transient stability. The
power carrying capability of an AC line as a function of
distance.
But in DC lines which is unaffected by the distance of
transmission.

Power transfer capability Vs. Distance

Continues
VOLTAGE CONTROL
The voltage control in AC lines is complicated by line
charging and inductive voltage drops.
The voltage profile in a AC line relatively flat only for
fixed level of power transfer corresponding to surge
impedance loading (SIL) or normal loading.
The Voltage profile varies with the line loading. For
constant voltage at the line terminal, the mid point voltage
is reduced for line loading higher than SIL and increased
for loadings less than SIL.

Variation of Voltage along the line:

Continues
Line compensation:
AC lines require shunt and series compensation in long
distance transmission, mainly to overcome of the line
charging and stability limitations.
Series capacitors and shunt inductors are used for this
purpose.
The increase in power transfer and voltage control is
possible through the Static Var Systems (SVS).
In AC cable transmission, it is necessary to provide shunt
compensation at regular intervals.

A whole picture of FACTS devices family:

Continues
PROBLEMS OF AC INTERCONNECTION:
When two power systems are connected through AC
ties(Synchronous interconnection),the automatic generation
control of both systems have to be coordinated using tie line
power and frequency signals.
Even with coordinated control of interconnected systems, the
operation of AC ties can be problematic due to
a) The presence of large power oscillations which can lead to
frequent tripping.
b) Increase in fault level
c) Transmission of disturbances from one system to the other

Continues
The

controllability of power flow in DC lines eliminates

all the above problem. In addition, for asynchronous DC
ties, there is no need of coordinated control.
It is obvious that two systems which have different
nominal frequencies cannot be interconnected directly
with AC ties and require the use of DC links.

Continues
GROUND IMPEDANCE:
In AC transmission, the existence of ground(Zero
sequence)current cannot be permitted in steady-state due to
high magnitudes of ground impedance which will not only
affect efficient power transfer, but also result in telephone
interference.
But ground impedance negligible for DC currents and a DC
link can operate one conductor with ground
return( Monopolar operation). The ground return is
objectionable only when buried metallic structures (Such as
pipes) are present and are subject to corrosion with DC
current flow.

Reliability:
The

reliability of DC transmission is quite good and

comparable to that AC systems.
An exhaustive record of existing HVDC links in the
world is available from which the reliability statistics
cab be computed.
It must be remembered that the performance of
Thyristor valves is much more reliable than mercury arc
valves and further developments in devices, control,
protection is likely to improve the reliability level.

Continues
There
a)
b)

are two measures of overall system reliability

Energy availability
Transient reliability

Energy availability:

Equivalent outage time is the product of the

actual outage time and the fraction of system
capacity lost due to outage.

Transient reliability:

This is the factor specifying the performance of HVDC systems

during recordable faults on the associated AC systems.
Recordable AC system faults are those faults which cause one or
more AC bus phase voltages to drop below 90% of the voltage prior
to the fault.
It is assumed that the short circuit level after the fault is not below
the minimum specified for satisfactory converter operation.
Both energy availability and transient reliability of existing
DC systems with thyristors valves is 95% or more.

HVDC outage statistics:

The average failure rate of thyristors in a valve is less than 0.6%

per operating year. The maintenance of thyristor valves is also
much simpler than the earlier mercury arc valves.