IEEE Energy2030

Atlanta, GA USA
17-18 November, 2008

Wind Farm Grid Integration Using VSC Based HVDC Transmission An Overview

S. K. Chaudhary

R. Teodorescu

P. Rodriguez

Department of Energy
Technology, Aalborg University,
Denmark
skc@iet.aau.dk

Department of Energy
Technology, Aalborg University,
Denmark
ret@iet.aau.dk

Department of Energy
Technology, Aalborg University,
Denmark
pro@iet.aau.dk

I. INTRODUCTION
Wind power generation has received a major
impetus due to ever increasing demand for
energy and depleting fossil fuel reserves. Energy
is the critical resource for development, without
which the world will come to standstill. Fossil
fuels like coal, oil and gas have been the chief
energy source till now. However, fossil fuels are
limited in supply and the reserves are
concentrated in a few countries; thereby raising
energy security concerns. Therefore, significant
research and development has been directed
towards harnessing renewable energy sources
world-wide for sustainable development. Wind
energy is an abundant renewable energy
resource. In the last couple of decades, there has
been a lot of research and development in the
field of electricity generation from wind power.
While the development is still going on, now
wind turbine technology has matured enough to
generate electrical energy from wind on a
massive scale (see Fig. 1).
Another attractive factor for wind energy is its
cleanliness. It does not use water for its operation
and the greenhouse gases emission (GHG) from

wind farms, both onshore and offshore, is of the

order of only 10 to 30 kg CO2 equivalent per
MWh of energy. This is a major environmental
advantage over fossil fuels, like coal, gas and oil,
which emit around 400 to 550 kg CO2 equivalent
per MWh of energy. In the European Union
(EU), energy accounts for 80% of all GHG
emissions. In order to reduce GHG emission and
ensure energy security, EU is committed to
develop renewable energy sources to the level of
20% by the year 2020[1]. A major portion of this
is expected to be from wind farms, both onshore
and offshore. As shown in Fig 1, in 2030 a
reference scenario from the European Wind
Energy Association (EWEA) assumes that wind
energy will generate 180GW of power, out of
which 120GW will come from offshore wind [2].
While this paper specifically refers to offshore
wind farms, most of the concepts are applicable
for onshore wind farms as well.
EWEA's Wind Pow er Reference Scenario
350
Offshore

300

Onshore
250
Power (GW)

Abstract - The paper gives an overview of HVAC and

HVDC connection of wind farm to the grid, with an
emphasis on Voltage Source Converter (VSC)-based
HVDC for large wind farms requiring long distance
cable connection. Flexible control capabilities of a
VSC-based HVDC system enables smooth integration
of wind farm into the power grid network while
meeting the Grid Code Requirements (GCR).
Operation of a wind farm with VSC-based HVDC
connection is described.
Keywords : VSC, HVAC, HVDC, Wind Farm, Grid
Code requirements, Black Start,, Reactive Power
Support, Voltage and Frequency regulation

120
75

200
35

150

12

100
50

4
1
56

77

2007

2010

146

113

165

180

2025

2030

0
2015

2020
Year

Fig. 1. EWEAs Wind Power Development Scenario

Wind turbine generators (WTG) convert wind

energy into electrical power. Now large wind
turbines of up to 5MW size have been
developed. A wind farm, also known as wind
power plant (WPP), is a collection of a few tens
or a few hundreds of WTG installed in close

vicinity. They are connected to the collector bus

by cables. For instance, 160MW Horns Rev
offshore wind farm comprises of 80 WTG of
2MW each. The proposed 400MW Borkum-II
wind farm in the North Sea will have 80 WTG of
5MW rating each. The outputs of individual
WTGs are aggregated at the collector bus.
While WTGs operate at a low voltage level,
typically 690V, step-up transformers are used to
step up the voltage to the collector bus voltage,
usually around 30 to 40 kV.

commutation failure when compared with LCCbased HVDC. It is not referred in this paper.
The paper is divided into five sections. A
brief description of HVAC and LCC-based
HVDC transmission system for wind farms is
given in section II Prevalent grid codes are
briefly discussed in Section III. Section IV
describes the VSC-based HVDC system. In the
end, section V concludes the paper.
II. HVAC AND HVDC OPTIONS FOR
WIND FARM INTEGRATION
A vast majority of generation, transmission,
distribution and consumption of electric power is
in the form of AC. Hence, HVAC transmission is
the obvious choice for the grid connection of
wind farm. Most of the operational wind farms
are connected using HVAC connection. Horns
Rev Wind farm uses 21 km of submarine cable
and 36km of onshore cable for the HVAC
transmission of. 160MW at 150kV

The electric power aggregated at the collector

bus has to be fed into the power grid network for
transmission and distribution to the load centers
and utilities located hundreds of km away. This
requires that the wind farm to the grid. Cable
transmission is required for the submarine power
transmission (in case of offshore wind farms),
and underground transmission onshore so as to
connect at a sufficiently strong point in the grid.
Though overhead line (OHL) provides an
economic connection, there are problem in
securing right of way for OHL. Hence, only
cable connection of wind farms have been
considered in this overview.
High Voltage AC (HVAC) and High Voltage
DC (HVDC) are the two alternatives for the
connection of the wind farm to the grid as shown
in Fig. 1. The figure shows Voltage source
converter (VSC) based HVDC system.
On the basis of the type of converters used,
modern HVDC transmission has three major
variations. The three types of converters are
a. Line-commutated Converter (LCC)
b. Capacitor Commutated Converters (CCC)c. Voltage Source Converters
CCC-based HVDC is a special type of LCCbased HVDC, with series capacitors between the
converter transformer and the thyristor-bridge. It
has some advantages with respect to lower
reactive power requirement and lower risk of

Power Transfer Capacity (MW)

Fig. 2. Single line diagram of HVAC and HVDC

interconnection of offshore wind farm to the grid.

Fig. 3. Choice of transmission technology for different

wind farm capacities and distances [3].

However, HVAC cable transmission suffers

from the excessive reactive current drawn by the
cable capacitances. Not only this increases the
cable losses and reduces the power transfer
capability of the cables, but also demands
reactive shunt compensation to absorb the
excessive reactive power and avoid over-voltage.
Presently AC cables have a maximum cable
rating of about 200MW per three phase cable, on
a voltage level of 150 - 170kV, compensation at
both ends and maximum cable length of around
200km. For a shorter distance of a 100km,
voltage ratings may be raised to 245kV, thereby
increasing the power transfer capability to
350MW [3]. As shown in Fig. 3, HVAC
transmission is not feasible for large offshore

power plants requiring cable transmission over

long distances.
Unlike HVAC transmission systems, there is
no reactive power generation or absorption in
HVDC transmission systems. Hence, HVDC
transmission is very suitable for bulk power
transmission over long distances. This has been
one of the driving factors for the development of
HVDC systems since the first commercial
installation in Gotland in the year 1954.
The advantages of HVDC systems are fast
and reversible power flow, asynchronous and
decoupled connection of two grids, frequency
control and power oscillation damping
capabilities. Though a large number of large
LCC-based HVDC systems are operational for
bulk power transmission and/or asynchronous
connection between two grids, none of them is
associated with wind farms.
LCC-based HVDC terminals use thyristorbridge converters, which require a stable AC
voltage for commutation. These converters
absorb reactive power as current is always
lagging behind the voltage. The reactive power
(VAr) requirement for the LCC terminals is of
the order of 60% of the active power rating;
though actual reactive power absorption depends
upon the power flow level. Large capacitive
filters are used to provide reactive power to the
terminals and filter out the low frequency
harmonics. Another problem lies in the fact that
LCC-based HVDC cannot be connected to weak
ac grids due to risk of commutation failures. The
strength of ac grid with respect to the LCC-based
HVDC rating is measured in terms of short
circuit ratio (SCR) and effective short circuit
ratio (ESCR), which accounts for the reactive
power compensation provided at the terminals
[4].
VSC-based HVDC transmission overcomes
the shortcomings of the LCC-based HVDC
system, albeit at increased converter cost and
higher converter losses.
Before moving on to the VSC-based HVDC,
the grid code requirements are briefly reviewed
in the following section.

machines; hence they go together very well. In

the last few decades several large wind farms
(also referred as wind power plants, WPP), each
having capacities of a few hundreds of MW,
have been connected to the grid, and a larger
number of WPPs are in the planning and
development stages. The characteristics and
capabilities of wind WPPs are very different
from the conventional power plants. Their
operational behavior, dynamics, controllability
and capability are dependent upon the type of
wind turbine generators used, farm control
architecture as well as instantaneous wind
availability. For a given wind farm, the power
generated is inherently stochastic in nature as it
depends upon the instantaneous local wind
conditions.
In the past, wind power penetration in the
power grid network was relatively small and grid
operators treated them as negative load, rather
than a power generation source. They were not
expected to provide grid support. On the
contrary, they used to get disconnected whenever
there were disturbances. The conventional power
houses were required to provide controlling
power to make up for the lost wind power
generation and support grid recovery [5].
With increasing wind penetration, grid
operators are now imposing grid code
requirements to specify the steady and dynamic
requirements that wind farms must comply with
for getting connected to the grid. Wind farms
need to participate in the frequency and voltage
regulation by continuously controlling their
active and reactive power outputs. Rather than,
disconnecting from the grid during fault
conditions, they are expected to exhibit low
voltage fault ride through capability and support
the grid recovery [6, 7].
E.ON Netz Grid Code [7] states that every
generating plant with a rated capacity of over
100MW must be capable of supplying the
control power. Phase swinging or power
oscillations must not trigger the generating plant
protection or lead to capacity disconnection. On
the other hand, the plant regulation must not
stimulate phase swinging or power oscillations.

III. GRID CODE REQUIREMENTS FOR

WIND FARMS

IV. VSC-BASED HVDC TRANSMISSION

At present a vast majority of the generating

power plants are thermal, hydro or nuclear power
stations with large synchronous generators.
These plants have a very controllable generation
capability of both the active and reactive powers
within their capability limits. Moreover, the
power system network has evolved around these

Voltage Source Converters (VSC) use high

voltage Insulated gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT)
capable of carrying high currents and switching
at high frequency of a few kHz for pulse width
modulation A comparison of LCC-HVDC
(referred as HVDC Classic) and VSC-based
HVDC is given in Table 1 [8].

Table 1. Comparison of LCC-based HVDC and VSC-based HVDC Light [8]

LCC-based HVDC

VSC-based HVDC

Size range single convertor

150 1500 MW

50 550 MW

Convertor/Semiconductor technology

Line commutated, Thyristor

Self commutated, IGBT

Relative volume

Type of cable

XLPE

Control of active power

4 6 times
Mass Impregnated Paper
Oil/Paper
Yes

Control of reactive power

No (only switched regulation)

Yes, continuous control

Voltage control

Limited

Extensive

Fault ride-through

No

Yes

Black start capability

No

Yes

10

Minimum short circuit capability in AC grid

>2.0 x rated power

No requirement

yes

11

Power reversal with-out interruption

No

Yes

12

Generator needed on off-shore platform

Yes

No requirement

13

Minimum DC power flow

5-10% of rated power

No minimum DC power

14

Typical losses per convertor

0.8%

1.6%

15

Operating experience

> 20 years

8 years

16

Operating experience off-shore

No

Yes

Fig. 4. Capability Curve of a VSC on active power (P)

and reactive power (Q) plane [9].

VSCs are capable of operating in all four

quadrants on the active power (P) and reactive
power (Q) plane as shown in Fig. 4 [9]. It allows
for the fast control of active and reactive powers
independent of each other. Depending upon the
requirements, the VSC can be operated to supply
or absorb reactive power from the grid.
By virtue of PWM controlled IGBT switches,
the operation of VSC-based HVDC system is
independent of the grid strength, it is even
capable of supplying to a passive load and
energize a dead network during black start.
Since VSC-based HVDC uses high frequency
PWM technique for the AC to DC conversion

and vice-versa, it does not introduce any low

frequency harmonics. The first characteristic
harmonics appears at the switching frequency
which of the order of a few kHz (typically at 1-2
kHz) and unlike in the case of LCC-based
HVDC, these converters do not require reactive
power support. Hence compact high frequency
filters can be used.
At the cost of more expensive converter
terminals and higher losses in the converters,
VSC-based HVDC is far better than the classic
HVDC system.
Key features of the VSC-based HVDC are
listed below
a. Fast and reversible control of power flow
b. Frequency and voltage control on the wind
farm grid to attain maximum power tracking.
c. Grid frequency regulation by fast power flow
control
d. Power Oscillation damping by modulating
the power flow.
e. Fast and reversible control of the Reactive
power generation or absorption at the point of
common coupling.
f. Voltage regulation by virtue of reactive
power control over a wide range from
inductive to capacitive.
g. Dynamic voltage stability and flicker
mitigation by the dynamic modulation of
reactive power injection.
h. Black start capability.
i. Improvement in power system stability by
fast and dynamic control of both the active

and reactive power injection at the point of

common coupling.
j. Asynchronous mode of operation, providing
decoupling from power grid disturbances.
k. Compact converter terminals compared to the
conventional HVDC terminals ideal for
platform based offshore applications.
l. Low filter requirements as the first
characteristic harmonics is in the order of a
few kHz.
On the flip side, the VSC-based HVDC
system is expensive due to high VSC-terminal
costs and the converter losses are higher than
those in LCC-based HVDC because of high
frequency switching of the IGBT switches.
However, VSC development in the last
decade has brought down the losses by more
than 60% since the development of the first
system in 1999 [8] Liu and Arrillaga et al [10]
proposes a VSC with current re-injection scheme
to reduce the switching losses.
In [11] Weber, has proposed the use of LCCbased HVDC with STATCOM on the basis of
lower overall losses. When LCC-based HVDC is
used, the losses are lower, and it can be designed
to meet the grid code requirements using VSCbased STATCOMs at its terminals.
A. VSC-based HVDC for Wind Farm Grid
Integration
VSC-based HVDC provides a flexible control
of both active and reactive power flow, and it
can be controlled to achieve a variety of
objectives like voltage and frequency control.
Therefore, it can be designed to operate with
different types of farm grids irrespective of the
type of wind turbine generators used, such as
squirrel cage induction generators, doubly fed
induction generators or synchronous machines
with (or without) full converters.
When the wind farm is connected to the grid
by VSC-HVDC, it may be operated as a
generator with controllable active and reactive
power. Though the maximum amount of active
power is limited to the availability of wind
power at any given instant, power generation can
be reduced as and when needed by the farm
control. Unlike LCC-based HVDC, VSC-based
HVDC poses no limitation on the minimum
active power flow. Further, reactive power flow
can be efficiently regulated to comply with the
grid connection requirements. The wind farm
side converter may be controlled to regulate the
wind farm grid voltage and frequency. As power
flows through the farm side converter into the

DC-link capacitors, DC-link capacitor voltage

tends to rise. The DC voltage control logic
implemented on the grid side converter, transfers
the power supplied by the farm side converter
(minus the losses) to the grid, so as to maintain
the constant DC link voltage. The grid side
converter also tends to regulate the grid voltage
at the converter terminal by regulating the
reactive power flow. Under normal operating
conditions, the two converters can operate
independently of each other.
B. Operation of the Wind Farm with VS-based
HVDC under Fault Conditions
When there is a fault resulting in a low
voltage on the grid side converter terminal bus,
the power transfer capability to the grid is
reduced. In such a case the wind farm may be
commanded to reduce the power generation. Any
excess power fed into the dc link would result in
DC over-voltage. Chopper controlled resistors
may be used to dissipate the excess energy and
avoid DC over-voltage [12].
A fault on the wind farm side would result in
reduction of power generation or reduction of
farm side grid voltage. The farm side converter
can be regulated to operate at a lower AC voltage
and low power generation.
A fault on the DC link would result in the
outage of the HVDC link. The wind farm will
have to be tripped whereas the grid side will
have to be isolated by the operation of AC circuit
breakers.
C. Energizing the Wind Farm Grid from the AC
Grid
Black start capability of the VSC-based
HVDC may be used to start the wind farm grid.
When the grid side converters are connected to
the AC grid, the DC link capacitor gets charged
to the required DC voltage level. Then the farm
side converter can energize the farm side grid to
the desired voltage and frequency in a controlled
manner. The wind turbine generators can be
connected to the farm side grid when voltage and
frequency is stable.
V. OPERATIONAL EXPERIENCES WITH
VSC-BASED HVDC
ABB has developed VSC-based HVDC under
the trade name HVDC-Light. [13 - 15]. Recently
Siemens has developed VSC-based HVDC under
the trade name, HVDC-plus.

A. Gotland

converter can be operated within the frequency

range 30 - 65 Hz in isolated operation mode.

Gotland HVDC Light (50MW, 80kV, 70km)

connects southern Gotland to the center of the
island This link is operating in parallel to the
existing 70kV/30kV AC grid since 1999. A loss
minimization program within the AC network
utilizes the power flow controllability of the
HVDC system. The voltage control reduces
voltage and frequency variations so that the wind
power does not synchronize with flicker and no
separate flicker controller is required. Staged
fault test study has demonstrated the voltage
support capability of the HVDC light system.
Installation of Gotland HVDC has improved the
overall stability and voltage quality of the
Gotland Energy AB (GEAB) to the extent that
the number of wind turbines installed in Gotland
has doubled from the number in 1997 [13-14].

10kV
Enge
10kV
Tjreborg

2MW
GB

2MW

8MVA

9kV DC
7MW

8MVA

GB

GB

1.5M
W

1MW
GB

Tjreborg wind farm with AC and DC Cable Feeders

Fig. 6 Tjreborg Wind Farm with AC and DC Cable

Feeders

C. Platform mounted Offshore HVDC-Light

HVDC terminal at Troll.

70 kV
HVDC to
M ainland

HEM SE
65 M VA
BCKS

80 kV
50 M W

The Troll A HVDC-Light link, consisting of

2x41MW, 60kV, converters and 67km long
submarine cables, is the only HVDC system with
offshore platform terminal. It supplies power to
the offshore platform from mainland grid. This
system proves the technical viability of offshore
platform mounted converter terminals and VSCbased HVDC supply to passive networks.
D. Others

65 M VA
NS
30 kV
N S 2
70 kV

NS

10kV

Sim plified diagram of the Gotland N etwork

Murray link, in Australia (220MW, 150kV,

180 km) and Estlink (350MW, 150kV, 105km)
between Finland and Estonia, demonstrate the
technical aspects with regard to high power
ratings and long cable transmission lengths.
Murray link is used for facilitating power trading
as well as AC voltage control at both ends.
E. Nord E.ON 1 HVDC

Fig. 5. Simplified Diagram of Gotland Network

B. Tjreborg
The 7.2MW, 9kV, 4.4km long HVDC Light
at Tjreborg was commissioned in 2000 to
demonstrate the VSC-based HVDC technology
on a small scale. The farm consists of 4 wind
turbines of different types and makes, with a
total generation of 6.5 MW. The DC cable is laid
in parallel with the existing AC cable, thus
enabling three different operation modes: AC
mode via the AC cable only, the DC mode via
the DC cable only or the AC/DC mode via the
DC and the AC cable in parallel. The offshore

Nord E.ON 1 HVDC, due for commissioning

in 2009, will be the first HVDC connection to a
large wind farm. It will connect the 400MW
Borkum-2 wind farm with the German Grid The
wind turbine generators, of 5MW size each, will
feed to a 36kV local AC grid, which will
eventually be stepped up to 170kV AC voltage.
HVDC Light offshore converters will convert it
to 150 kV DC voltage. The transmission link
will comprise of 128 km of submarine cable and
75 km underground cable before connecting to
the 380kV AC grid at Diele. [17]

F. HVDC.plus from Siemens

The first VSC-based HVDC from Siemens,
known as HVDC Plus, will be transmitting
400MW at 200kV over 88km submarine cable
between San Fransisco City Center and Pittsburg
from March 2010[17].
VI. CONCLUSIONS
VSC-based HVDC system is a viable
transmission connection for large offshore wind
farms, especially when long distances are
involved. Relatively higher cost and higher
converter losses may be acceptable in view of its
flexibility to ensure compliance with the Grid
Code requirements, facilitate ancillary services
like reactive power support, voltage stability,
power flow regulation, etc. Further development
and competitive research on VSC technology is
expected to bring down the losses and price as
well.
However, for certain onshore wind farms,
where space availability is not a concern, a
combination of HVDC classic and STATCOM
or other hybrid topologies may be evaluated.
When there are a number of large wind farms
in a certain region, VSC based multi-terminal
HVDC may be optimal. In such cases a detailed
simulation study is required with regards to
GCR, possible ancillary services and power
system operation and stability. Further the
stability and performance of the VSC based
converters has to be studied for unbalanced grid
conditions and asymmetrical faults.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research is a part of Vestas Power
Program sponsored by Vestas Wind Systems
A/S, Denmark and Department of Energy
Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg,
Denmark.
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