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14-114

Session 2002
CIGR

BUILDING INDIA'S GRID: AN EXAMINATION OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE

BENEFITS OF HVDC TRANSMISSION
J D WHEELER*, B R ANDERSEN, S SADULLAH
ALSTOM T&D Ltd Power Electronic Systems
UK

R GULATI
ALSTOM Systems Ltd
India

V K PRASHER, D KUMAR - Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd

1.

INTRODUCTION

India has a population of over 1 billion people, which is

growing at a rate of 1.7% per annum. Its economy is
growing rapidly and such changes make strong demands
on the countrys infrastructure. A stable and reliable
electricity supply system is a key requirement but
achievement of this in such a large country with rapid and
diverse growth is a complex problem requiring both
technical, economic and political initiatives.
The countrys electricity transmission and distribution
system has progressed through several stages. In the
1960s it was limited to individual grids within each state,
with local state owned power plants, and then in the mid
1970s some of these state grids were interconnected to
form separate regional grids along with their own
Regional Grid Control Centres. The concept of forming a
national grid for this large country was first mooted in
1980 but it was not until 1991 that institutional structures
were put in place to bring it about. This led to the
formation of The Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd
(POWERGRID) which was established in 1989. The
creation of a national grid was a major objective for
POWERGRID. The initiation of the interconnection to
form the national grid has been achieved using HVDC.
In future, there will also be a need to transmit a dedicated
amount of power from one region to another. It is
anticipated that a mix of AC and HVDC transmission
systems shall be used to interconnect the regions.

*PO Box 27, Lichfield Road, Stafford ST17 4LN

2.

GROWTH AND PROBLEMS

In the early 1990s changes were made to boost the

economy by relaxing trade barriers and encouraging
inward investment. The effect has been a growth in the
GDP of 6 7% per annum in real terms. With the
expansion of the economy came the need for more power,
improved reliability and greater responsiveness to the
demands of the market. At the same time the first steps
were taken to separate the functions of electricity
generation and transmission in order to promote a more
responsive market to the rapidly developing need for more
power. It was recognised that the existing structure of
State owned electricity generation, transmission and
distribution could hamper the best utilisation of the
available and potential resources.
On a country wide basis there was anticipated to be an
overall shortage of peak power and energy while some
regions would have surpluses. Furthermore there were
regional diversities of peak load and of energy shortages.
Figure 1 shows the significant increase in generation and
capacity over the last decade but nevertheless in 2000 the
energy shortage was estimated at 11% overall and 18% at
peak. Indeed it can be seen that the percentage increase in
generation (demand) is significantly greater than the
increase in generating capacity.

Day to day problems of the grid include:

Frequency down to 48 Hz during peak load hours
Frequency up to 51Hz during off peak hours
Rapid and wide changes of frequency (1 Hz in 10
minutes)
Very low voltages for substantial periods (some
400kV busbars reduced to 340kV)
High voltages during off peak hours
Frequent grid disturbances
Insufficient AC system control action to limit the
impact of system disturbances.

Figure 1: Electricity Generation in India 1987 - 99

500
450

Generation (TWh)

400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
1986

1988

1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

2000

Year

Figure 2: Electricity Generation Capacity in India, 1987-99

Also high levels of overvoltage arise during system

disturbances. All these made the possibility of achieving
AC interconnection that would enable useful and reliable
power transfer unlikely in the short term.

120

Faced with the problem of achieving a national grid but

limited by the inherent weaknesses of the regional
networks POWERGRID recognised the benefits to be
gained from the use of HVDC. Two HVDC links had
already been established, the Rihand-Dadri HVDC
Transmission Scheme and the Vindyachal HVDC Backto-Back Scheme. These schemes had shown that it was
possible to interconnect different regions and still
maintain control and stability alongside co-ordinated
operational regimes in the adjoining AC systems.

Capacity (GW)

100

80

60

40

20

0
1986

1988

1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

2000

Year

In this situation it is clear that a national grid would help

to alleviate shortages and to enable the development of
power generation and load to progress in the most
efficient locations. In this context, the control features of
an HVDC link provides a flexible interconnection and,
despite the problems of voltage and frequency variation, is
able to assist in promoting stability of the AC systems.
3.

Since 1991 three inter-regional Back-to-Back HVDC links

have been initiated together with an HVDC transmission
link between Talcher and Kolar. A similar HVDC
transmission scheme has also been utilised within the
Western Region to facilitate bulk power transfer from the
regions thermal power centre at Chandrapur to the high
load centre at Mumbai.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

DEVELOPMENT OF HVDC LINKS

For the purposes of the Electricity Supply Industry the

country is divided into five regions, Northern Region,
Western Region, Eastern Region, Southern Region and
North-Eastern Region. Each region covers several states
each with its own State Electricity Board which operates
the local generation, transmission and distribution system.
In addition, Central Government owns and operates some
power generation within the regions and provided an EHV
transmission system across the region. There were no
electricity links between the regions (except the North and
North Eastern) and they had developed largely in isolation
in response to the local needs and were operating under
such constraints that the differing systems could not easily
be interconnected. Each region suffers rapid and large
variations in frequency on a daily basis.

Rihand-D elhi,1500M W
V indyachal, 500M W
Barsoor-Low er Sileru,100M W
Chandrapur, 1000M W
Chandrapur-Padghe, 1500M W
V ishakhaptnam ,500M W
Sasaram , 500M W
Talcher-K olar,2000M W

D elhi

N O RTH

N O RTH -EA ST

Rihand

EA ST

W EST

K olkata

Chandrapur
M um bai

SO U TH

Back-to-Back
Point-to-Point
Cities

Chennai
Bangalore

Figure 3 : Inter-regional HVDC Links in India

The benefits of the two types of HVDC connection are

different and complimentary. When there is a load
increase then the provision of increased generation is an
obvious expectation. Location of the generation near to
the source of energy has clear economic benefits and in
the case of hydel is inevitable. When the source of the
energy is a long distance from the load then traditional
benefits of HVDC make this the solution to be adopted.
However such HVDC links also serve to reinforce the
integration of the networks which might otherwise be too
diverse to permit interconnection. The ability of the
HVDC conversion process to transmit power, independent
of frequency variations, voltage phase angle and
magnitude means that it is viable even when the AC
networks are otherwise independent. Furthermore the
HVDC control could enable positive reinforcement of the
system parameters by the use of its ability to rapidly
control power in response to system disturbances
involving frequency changes.
The Back-to-Back link provides a more universal
integration of the interconnected regions since they can
link regions at the boundaries where the system is weaker,
being more remote from the sources of power. By virtue
of the inherent controllability of HVDC the AC region can
be reinforced and controlled power transfer made
possible. By such means the two regions benefit from
diversity of peak loading allowing the loading as a whole
to be met with less generation capacity. Equally the
spinning reserve can be shared between regions due to the
ability of the HVDC to respond rapidly to demands for
change, providing increased or reduced power or power
modulation. These benefits can also be utilised to
improve efficiency by utilising thermal plant as a
constant source regardless of regional location and hydel
plant as a variable supply dependant on the daily peak.
Similarly the maximum utilisation can be made of hydel
plant at times of high water inflows to avoid wastage of
water through spillage due to lack of local demand.
4.

OVERALL BENEFITS OF
INTERCONNECTION

Shortages of energy and peak power supply in adjacent

regions suggests a need for increased investment in power
generation equipment.
However, since there are
differences in the daily and seasonal load patterns between
the regions it is possible with an interconnection to gain
effective increased capacity in both regions by pooling
resources and to improve efficiency by optimising the
generation plant operation.
The benefits may be
summarised as:
Economic
Shared peak generation and exchange of energy

giving reduced generation plant margins in each

region
Peak load diversity permits the export of surplus
energy and the operation of thermal plant at base load
with higher efficiency
Investment in new generation is avoided at a cost
equivalent to one fifth
Improved reliability of AC system through
availability of emergency power
Reduced industrial disruption due to load shedding

Environmental
Fuller use is made of seasonal high rainfall run-off,
transferring extra hydro capacity to the other regions
Hydro resources are conserved and more efficiently
managed by utilising thermal energy in times of
drought
Reduced coal burning due to the import of energy
from hydro resources when available
Construction of fewer generating stations by sharing
reserves for outages and peaks
On the down side there is the cost (both economic and
environmental) of the losses of the convertor stations but
these are small in comparison to the AC transmission
losses and so do not alter the normal balance of
transmission costs versus location of generation.
5.

TECHNICAL BENEFITS OF HVDC

A major benefit of HVDC transmission compared to AC

is the inherent robustness of the interconnection in the
face of difficult AC system conditions and its ability to
isolate an AC system from the worst effects of a transient
disturbance in the adjoining network. An HVDC link will
continue to deliver power even under the conditions of
varying AC voltage, frequency and phase angle and its
control features can be utilised to vary its power transfer
to moderate the changes in the AC systems. The ability of
the HVDC to cope with the varied AC conditions can
even permit the interconnection to be made with DC when
it would be impossible with AC.
System studies were carried out to evaluate the viability of
interconnecting the Indian Regional grids using AC and
DC. For the purposes of the study two typical Indian
regions were fully modelled. Each was geographically
large and with a substantial demand of approximately
19000MW at peak times with load modelling reflecting
aggregate dependency on voltage. Each had typically
about 300 HV busbars joined together by transmission
lines and other equipment at 400 kV, 220 kV and lower
voltage levels. Each of the regions is a relatively weak
network
and
consequently
the
inter-regional
synchronisation is not readily achieved. For the purposes
of the study these real difficulties were neglected and it

was assumed that interconnection would be operationally

achieved.
The study primarily investigated the post-fault transients
stability features of two alternative types of
interconnection (AC and HVDC) between the regions and
of
the
regions
operating
separately
without
interconnection, i.e.:

A double circuit , 400kV AC transmission line of

nominal capacity 500 MW, assuming that matching
of the two system frequencies and voltage levels is
practicable
A double circuit, 400 kV AC transmission line of
nominal capacity 500 MW, with a 500 MW HVDC
Back-to Back link connected at one end, thereby
permitting the interconnection without requiring the
matching of the two system frequencies and voltage
levels
No interconnection

Operation of the system, when the regions were

interconnected was simulated under peak load flow
conditions with transfer through the inter-regional tie from
region B to region A. With the regions interconnected as
above three phase faults of different intensities were
applied at representative locations around the networks.
The variation with time of generator rotor angles and
terminal voltages were examined together with the power
flows in the interconnection.

Busbar Voltage (pu)

Line Power Flow

500

400

0.8

300
200

0.6

100

0.4

0.2

-100 0

10

-200

10

M va r
Tim e (Sec)

Tim e (Sec)

Figure 5: Dynamic Response (Region A):

Regions Connected by AC Line

However, the results for the same study with an HVDC

back-to-Back link in series with the AC interconnection
can be seen, in figure 6, to be stable with the voltages and
power flows returning to new stable values with
decreasing oscillations. With the AC interconnection the
effect of the faults was also transferred to region B
resulting in similar unstable oscillation in region B as
shown in figure 5. However when the interconnection
includes the Back-to Back DC link then there is little
disturbance in Region B as shown in figure 7. The DC
link has buffered the disturbance in region A from region
B and ensured stability of the whole system.
Busbar Voltage (pu)

Line Power Flow

500

400
MW
300

0.8

200

0.6

100

0.4

0
-100 0

0.2
0

10

M var 10

-200
Tim e (Sec)

Tim e (Sec)

Figure 6: Dynamic Response (Region A):

Regions Connected by DC Line

Results
Figure 4, 5, 6 and 7 show results of a three phase fault
applied to one circuit of an AC transmission line in region
A. Figure 4 shows that when the regions are not
interconnected the system is recovering stability following
the fault, with voltage and power flow oscillation
decreasing in amplitude. In contrast, figure 5 shows that,
when the regions are interconnected with an AC tie, the
system becomes unstable with continuously increasing
oscillation of both terminal voltage and line power flow in
Region A. The AC line power is measured in one of the
circuits that is connected to the eventual convertor bus.
Busbar Voltage (pu)

Line Power Flow

500

MW

400

0.8

300

0.6

200
100

0.4

0
-100 0

0.2
0

MW

5
Time (Sec)

10

10
M var

-200
Tim e (Sec)

Figure 4: Dynamic Response (Region A):

Regions Not Interconnected

200
1

100

0.8

0
-100 0

0.6

M var

10

-200
0.4

-300

0.2

-400
0

5
Tim e (Sec)

10

MW

-500
Tim e (Sec)

Figure 7: Dynamic Response (Region B):

Regions Connected by DC Line

These study results match the performance of the real

systems in which it has been found that even when AC
conditions have permitted the interconnection using an
AC tie then the system can become unstable. As a
consequence the only way to utilise an AC connection to
feed an adjacent region has been to feed a segregated
portion of that region, for example an important load
centre, in a radial manner. This solution was utilised
temporarily before the Chandrapur HVDC link was
installed to supply the Southern region from the West.
Similarly during the construction of the Sasaram HVDC
link between the Northern and Eastern regions, once the
AC line was available it was used to radially feed loads at
Saranath (U.P.) from June 2001, since a full AC

interconnection, i.e. synchronisation of the two regions

was not possible.
6.

ADDITIONAL CONTROL BENEFITS OF

HVDC

An HVDC link provides the ability to control the power

flows through the link in response to control inputs and
these can be programmed to act for the overall benefit of
the AC system, and in particular the controls can be
utilised to provide Power Oscillation Damping (Power
Modulation). Secondly it is possible to apply rapid
changes in the level of power transfer in response to
changed system conditions (Power Demand Override)
and finally the power exchange can be adjusted over a
slightly longer timescale to provide Frequency Control.
In addition the reactive power control features of an
HVDC link can be utilised to control power factor as well
as the dynamic overvoltages arising in the network.
6.1

Power Oscillation Damping (POD)

The POD controller uses dynamic variations in convertor

bus voltage angle, to derive a change in DC power and
hence DC current order. The principle is similar to PDO
below except that POD works in a faster dynamic time
frame, nevertheless it is designed to suppress changes in
transmission angle by corresponding changes in
transmitted power levels. The control parameters are
derived from open loop bode plots obtained for the
AC/DC system modelled on a real time digital simulator.
The gain and phase at each frequency in the range of
interest are found by multiple frequency injection
combined with fourier analysis. The range is considered
to be between 0.1 to 5Hz. This process has to be repeated
for several AC system configurations with different lines
switched out. By having open loop bode plots for these
different cases, it is possible to estimate control
parameters such that the POD is beneficial in most
scenarios which can be confirmed by subsequent time
domain simulations.

around 2.0, is generally practiced at a maximum ramp rate

of around 150,000 MW per minute (2500 MW per
second). PDO action is effectively open loop insofar as its
pre-designed response (power reduction level) is triggered
by an AC system event (such as line tripping) near to the
converter station. The levels of power reduction are
ascertained by transient stability type studies, from the
viewpoint of system stability as well as post runback
overvoltages.
Figures 8 and 9 show a study involving a 500 MW DC
scheme fed from a double circuit transmission line on its
rectifier side AC system which suffers a bus fault cleared
after 100 ms by the opening of a key line. Without any
DC power runback (figure 8), the post disturbance AC
system is clearly unstable as seen from the rectifier bus
voltage collapse shown in the first plot. With DC power
runback (figure 9) of 0.5 per unit instituted, the powerflow
in each adjacent AC transmission line falls from 250 MW
to 125 MW and the resulting stabilisation of the AC
system is evident from the bus voltage plot.
Rectifier End Busbar Voltage
(pu)

Inverter AC P/Q

1.1
1
0.9

Bus 2

0.8

Bus 1

0.7
0.6
0.5
0

10

13000
11000
9000
7000
5000
3000
1000
-1000

M var

MW
0

Tim e (Sec)

1.1

Bus 2

250

Bus 1

MW

150

0.9
0.8

50
0.7
0.6

-50 0

10

0.5
0

10

M var

-150
Tim e (Sec)

Figure 9: Demonstration of the Stabilising Effect

Of DC Power Runback: Case With Runback

Power Demand Override (PDO)

Under certain weak network conditions such as those

caused by contingencies, the transmission of substantial
levels of DC power particularly after a transient
disturbance causes an overloading of the AC system
transmission lines near the converter station. Adjacent
parts of the rectifier side AC system suffer threatened P-V
collapse, unless the DC power level can be run back at
an appropriate rate so as to stabilise AC system bus
voltages. Such a controlled reduction of DC power is
called Power Demand Override (PDO) and in DC
schemes transmitting between 500 and 1000 MW from an
AC system with an Effective Short Circuit Ratio of

10

Figure 8: Demonstration of the Stabilising Effect

Of DC Power Runback: Case Without Runback

Tim e (Sec)

6.2

5
Tim e (Sec)

6.3

Dynamic Overvoltage Limiting

Dynamic or Temporary Overvoltage (TOV) can be

limited by the TOV control loop often present in the phase
controls of a DC scheme. The principle of its action is
based upon the rapid variation of control angle in response
to a sensed error in the converter HV bus voltage, such
that for an increase in that voltage over its setpoint, the
control will increase the rectifier end firing (delay) angle
or the inverter end extinction (margin) angle. This will
cause a transient higher absorption of reactive power at
the effected end, thus reducing its AC bus voltage. As the

phase loops employ only transient control periods, there is

only a transient loss of the principal mode of control ie
DC current (or voltage etc) control.

due to their harmonic absorption requirement with the link

still transmitting (possibly reduced) DC power.
6.5

The plots of Figure 10 and 11 show a dynamic

overvoltage suffered as a result of temporary DC load
rejection following a close up rectifier side AC bus fault.
The resultant inverter side AC voltage rises to just above
1.2 per unit, but is not initially controlled because the
TOV control loop set-point is 1.3 per unit voltage at the
converter buses (figure 10). By contrast, the plots of
figure 11 show the TOV controls response with this target
voltage set at 1.1 per unit. The inverter AC bus voltage is
then controlled to this level as a consequence of the larger
transient reactive power absorption by the DC link at the
inverter AC bus.
Busbar Voltage (pu)

AC Reactive power (pu)

5

IN V ERTER

6.6

RECTIFIER

RECTIFIER

2
1

0
0

Tim e (Sec)

Tim e (Sec)

Figure 10 Demonstration of Dynamic Overvoltage

Limiting by DC Controller
Ineffective: Set at 1.3puV
5

IN VERTER

This is a quasi-steady state controller to assist the control

of the AC system frequency by the variation of power
transfer to compensate for steady state changes in system
frequency. Clearly the same power transfer changes will
take place in both the importing and exporting region.
Thus the convertor can only control to the requirements of
one region. The target frequency is set for the region and
the convertor adjusts its power level according to the
deviation of the frequency from the target.
The
power/frequency characteristic of the convertor can be set
to match that of the generators. In the event that the
power change is sufficient to affect the other region such
that the frequency goes beyond the normal limits then the
action can be moderated.

IN VERTER

0.5

Frequency Control

IN VERTER

AC Voltage Stability Control

Voltage Stability Control is a quasi-steady state controller

which avoids the possibility of oscillatory P-V collapse in
the AC system by reduction of DC power. It is thus
similar to PDO but is inoperative for fast (dynamic) or
severe AC system changes. Also, it has no operator
control and seeks a reduced DC power order to suit a local
closed loop target AC voltage at the convertor bus.

1
3

RECTIFIER

7.

RECTIFIER

0.5

1
0

0
0

Tim e (Sec)

Tim e (Sec)

Figure 11 Demonstration of Dynamic Overvoltage

Limiting by DC Controller
Effective: Set at 1.1puV

6.4

AC Voltage Control

This is a quasi steady state controller of near steady state

converter AC bus voltage. The action of the controls is to
decrease DC voltage order within specified limits which
are dependent on the AC/DC scheme design limitations,
notably the maximum practical control angle which
increases converter losses as well as valve arrester PCAV.
The subsequent increase in converter reactive power
absorption goes some way towards correcting the increase
in AC bus voltage, after which filters are switched out in
appropriate steps with the requisite time delays between
switchings. Eventually, the bus voltage is corrected to be
within the specified dead band and no further filter
switching is needed. Obviously, even with redundancy,
there is a limit to the number of filters one can switch out

EXPERIENCE OF A TYPICAL HVDC LINK

The Indian Southern Region grid frequency is generally

very low, i.e. around 48.0Hz (and below) for most of the
time due to heavy power shortage and the Eastern grid
frequency is generally very high, i.e. 51.0Hz (and above)
during most of the time (except during evening peak
hours) due to surplus power.
Since commercial operation of Visakhapatnam HVDC
Back-to-Back station in September 1999 it has been a
vital asynchronous link between the surplus Eastern
Region and the deficit Southern Region. The utilisation of
the station was around 50% up to end 1999 with peak
hour assistance of 300MW from Eastern Region to
Southern Region due to some transmission constraints. In
2000 the utilisation increased to about 65% with an
average of 350MW power flowing continuously with a
short time peak of 513MW (February, 2000). The station
utilisation has been consistently increasing to above 90%
since May, 2001 and Eastern Region assisting Southern
Region to the tune of 475MW continuously including
evening peak hours with a short time peak of 500MW (1st
December, 2001).

Due to the additional features available from the HVDC

station, during grid disturbances in the Eastern Region on
some occasions when the Eastern Region was exporting
power (above 250MW), the power export automatically
came down to 250MW/150MW due to activation of PDO
signals as desired by the Regional Load Despatch Centres,
relieving the grid (from low frequency operation) and also
avoiding any cascade trippings. With the implementation
of frequency control features and other frequency
dependent offset PDOs on both the Regions, the HVDC
link can be better utilised to save/avoid any major grid
disturbances/disintegration of any of the connected grid
systems.
8.

It can be seen that the technical benefits of the HVDC

connections lead to operational facilities which not only
serve to make the connection possible but provide features
to stabilise the AC systems which would not otherwise be
available. However HVDC interconnections also provide
real economic returns due to reduced transmission losses,
improved efficiency of generation, sales of power
transferred and increased reliability and availability.
References
1.

CONCLUSION

In a rapidly developing country, such as India, reliable

electricity supply plays a key role in ensuring continued
economic growth. By sharing out the limited generation
resources and taking advantage of diversities and
differences in load patterns in the different regions an
electricity grid established using HVDC makes it possible
to support faster growth and achieve more reliable supply.
Experience of the recent HVDC schemes (Chandrapur
and Vizag 1) indicates that they can provide reliable
facilities for power transfer between independently
operated regions.

2.

3.

Indian National Grid Development and Challenges.

R P Singh Conference on Global Participation in
Indian National Grid Management and Convergence,
Mumbai, August 2001.
Grid Management in India. B Bhusan - Conference
on Global Participation in Indian National Grid
Management and Convergence, Mumbai, August
2001.
An Energy Overview of India US Department of
Energy www.fe.doe.gov/international