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Abstract—An HVDC transmission system for bulk power Supply (MW)
transfer over longer distance offers numerous advantages over 120000
Demand (MW)
an alternating current (AC) transmission system, such as direct 100000
Power (MW)
integration of networks operating at different frequencies, com-
paratively low line losses on account of constant current and 80000
absence of reactance. This paper presents details about HVDC 60000
power transmission systems and power converter technologies. 40000
Issues concerning integration of electrical power generated by
alternate sources (i.e., wind,onshore and offshore) into the na- 20000
tional grid of Pakistan using HVDC technology are also discussed. 0
Research studies revealed that the energy crisis of countries like 2013 2015 2020 2025 2030
Pakistan can be mitigated to a larger extent with the use of Year
HVDC transmission systems.
Fig. 1. Peak electrical energy demand vs.supply projections for Pakistan.
Index Terms—HVDC, renewable energy, transmission systems,
wind Energy.
TABLE I
Keti Bandar corridor, which is 60 km long, located along HVAC AND HVDC C OMPARISON
the coast belt of the Sindh province [8]. According to the
Pakistan Metrological Department (PMD), afteranalyzing the Characteristics HVAC HVDC
Power Losses HVAC systems has High voltage DC transmission
wind data at 20 different sites in the coast belt, the favorable significant losses with line has fewer losses compared
area for wind power generation is 9,700 km2 with estimated distance. with an AC circuit for the
wind power potential of 43,000 MW [9]. same amount of power trans-
ferred.Converter terminals and
Electric power transfer capability is restricted by different substations have power losses.
constraintssuch asthermal loadingof conductors, and voltage Investment HVAC land acquisi- HVDC land acquisition costs
and transient instabilities emerging in a power system [10]. cost tion costs are higher are lower as two conductors
as more conductors are used to transmit power. The
Power grids around the world are continuously changing due to are used to transmit operating and maintenance ex-
the rapid interconnection of large wind farms into transmission power. penditure is less in an HVDC
systems. Wind energy sources located at far off areas and the system.
variable nature of wind are two major challenges faced in its Asynchronous HVAC systems can- HVDC is the only option to
connection not be used to connect establish a link between two
integration into a national grid [11]. In order to integrate en- asynchronous ties. different frequency networks.
ergy from renewable sources into the main centers of a power Environment The visual impact Right of way management
grid,;he existing capacity of the transmission system needs to and right of way (ROW) expenses for the High
management (ROW) voltage DC overhead system
be enhanced and modified so that the HVDC links could be of HVAC systems is is less than the AC line of a
used effectively for the transfer of electric power produced by high. system. Converter stations have
the renewable energy source to the main centers [12]. issues such as: noise level,
electromagneticcompatibility
This paper provides information about HVDC and HVAC and use of a ground / sea return
systems;nd updated power converter technology.It also high- circuit of electric current in a
lights the potential and benefits for the use of HVDC systems mono polar mode of operation.
Fault perfor- In HVAC, when a In HVDC systems, the current
in countries such as Pakistan. mance fault occurs, a circuit value does not change, mak-
breaker is used to in- ing a DC line short-circuit diffi-
terrupt the current and cult to extinguish by itself until
II. HVDC S YSTEMS AND P OWER C ONVERTERS extinguishes the arc, the current is lowered down to
which is formed dur- zero value and the arc is extin-
In the beginning (19th century), transmission and distribu- ing the breaking and guished.
tion of electricity were based on direct current (DC) tech- opening of contacts.
Short-circuit HVA C transmission High voltage DC transmission
nology, on account of the low voltage (110 v) generation at currents line contributes makes no contribution towards
that time. With the growing demand for higher voltages, AC towards the short- the short-circuiting current in
became popular as it could be easily converted into higher circuiting current of the interconnected AC/DC sys-
the AC/DC system tem.
voltages, with a fairly less chance of power loss. However, interconnected.
with the invention of thyristor valves by General Electric in
the 1950’s, and the development of power electronics, HVDC
transmission proved to be technically attractive. To transmit
power over longer distances, high voltage alternating (HVAC)
lines needed reactive power compensations at regular intervals.
The frequency and the intermediate reactive components are devices(IGBT’s) are needed as stacks, which cause greater
major concerns pertaining to stability problems in an alter- difficulty in the control mechanism. Another approach to get
nating current line. Whereasan HVDC system lacks stability a higher power rating in a converter is to implement it as a
problems due to the absence of frequency,it is not dependent multilevel topology. These have inherent problems at a lesser
on distance [13]. A comparison between HVAC and HVDC number of levels, which places restrictions on their voltage
overhead lines is presented in Table I below [14]: levels. A modular multilevel converter (MMC) is a promising
Power converters are needed (AC/DC/AC) to embed DC technology based on multilevel topology.It implements two-
links into AC transmission systems. The power conversion level converter (IGBT devices) sub modules in cascade to
process is completed using electronic devices (switches) such obtain the desired output voltage.The switching frequency is
as diodes, transistors and thyristors. HVDC technology based less, so losses are also lower. However, high voltage DC
on current sourced converters (LCC-HVDC) was first im- breakers are still in the development stage, making DC line
plemented 50 years ago. This technology uses thyristors fault clearance difficult in MMC based converters. VSC-
as switching devices. The voltage source converters (VSC- HVDC technology made with extruded DC cables is called
HVDC) based on Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBT) HVDC Light. This technology is more suitable for an offshore
was developed later and has the advent of self-commutation, environment and interconnection of different networks. An
i.e. the switch turn on and off is controllable.As the switching HVDC system shown in Fig. 2 is comprised of three major
frequency is low in LCC-HVDC systems, the power losses components [15]–[19]: Rectifier terminal to convert AC to DC,
are less compared with VSC systems where the switching Transmission line and Inverter terminal to convert back to AC.
frequency is high due to the pulse width modulation method
which is used to control the gate signal. To increase the A comparison between different types of power converters
power rating of VSC technology, more series connected are shown in Table II [20].
3
Managla
Muzaffargarh
Power Grid HVDC System Power Grid India
Guddu
Fig. 2. HVDC System.
Jamshoro
TABLE II
T YPES O F P OWER C ONVERTERS
Fig. 3. Major Power Plants.
Attributes Classical HVDC VSC-HVDC MMC-HVDC
Convertor Tech- Thyristor valve, Transistor valve Sub-modules
nology grid commutation (IGBT), self (IGBT), through the bipolar 500 kV HVDC link. It consists of a
commutation 500 kV, 750 km bipolar HVDC interconnection link with
Reactive power Yes No No
demand conversion capability of 1,300 MW at Sangtuda (Tajikistan), a
Independent No Yes Yes 300 MW at Kabul (Afghanistan) and a 1,300 MW at Peshawar
control of (Pakistan) [23]. Another 600 kVHVDC line is under con-
active and Reac-
tive power struction between Matiari (Sindh) and NankanaSahib (Punjab),
Multi-terminal Complex Simple Medium which willtransmit up to 4,000 MWof powerproduced bythe
configurations Thar coal power plants. The existingACgrid located nearby
Control System Simple Medium Complex
haslimited transfer capacity. More HVDC stations will be
required to transmit power producedfrom wind energy sources
as predictedin Fig. 4 [24].
III. F UTURE D EVELOPMENT OF HVDC S YSTEMS IN The purpose of installing current HVDC links in Pakistan
PAKISTAN is to transfer electric power between two distant regions.
The power transmission system of Pakistan consists of 40 Howeverfor future development, a HVDC system has great
grid stations and the total length of high voltage AC lines is potential forintegrating wind energy sources, asynchronous
12, 436 km; out of which 5,077 km is of 500 KV Transmission connectionsand system stability improvement.
lines. It is estimated that almost one third of the population
has no access to the electricity grid due to the remote locations ±500 kV HVDC Station
(Casa Project)
of the settled areas and the scale of the country. The country’s
total installed capacity (hydro+thermal) is around 11,300 MW. Pesco CHINA
Details about the main hydro and thermal units are included
Tesco Iesco
in Table III. Big Hydro plants are located in the northern areas
of Pakistan, while thermal plants are in the south as evident Gepco
from the power plant map shown in Fig. 3 [21].
Qesco Lesco
TABLE III
H YRDO /T HERMAL U NITS Fesco Legend
Mepco Existing/New
Name of Power Station Province Type of Power station Capacity(MW)
Tarbela KPK Reservoir 3700 500kV Grid
Mangala AJK Reservoir 1200 Sepco T/L
Ghazi Barotha Punjab Canal 1450 HVDC Line
Hesco Hydel Station
Muzaffargarh Punjab Thermal 1300 Thermal Station
Guddu Punjab Thermal 1600 ARABIAN SEA Distribution
Jamshoro Sindh Thermal 800 Future HVDC ±600 kV HVDC Station company
stations Matiari to Lahore
The majority of electricity consumers are located in the Fig. 4. HVDC Grid Map of Pakistan.
middle of the country, where wind energy potential is minimal.
In the Southern region, wind energy potential is available for As explained earlier,geographical locations and infrastruc-
future electricity production. ture limitations are two major constraints for the transmission
Pakistan needs to produce around 3,000–4,000 MW electric- of wind power to the load centers. If a shore is located
ity per annum according to the demand as reported. To increase nearby in any country, then offshore wind energy farms will
capacity and efficiency, the transmission system needs to be provide a good choice to generate power [25]. Normally
upgraded [22]. The idea to initiate the usage of HVDC technol- the existing transmission system capacity is designed for the
ogy in Pakistan comes from the proposed CASA-1000 (Cen- conventional fossil fuels and thermal based generation systems
tral Asia-South Asia electricity transmission and trade)project and to interconnect large wind energy systems from one
which will interconnect Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan region to another and the existing setup may have capacity
4
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