NAME- SONALI SINGH

Roll no.-1120864
Section-E8

INTRODUCTION
TOPIC: HVDC Transmission - Opportunities and

Challenges

HVDC stands for high voltage direct current transmission.

Ahigh-voltage, direct current(HVDC)electric power
transmissionsystem usesdirect currentfor the bulk transmission
of electrical power, in contrast with the more commonalternating
current(AC) systems
Alternating current (AC) became very familiar for the
industrial and domestic uses, but still for the long
transmission lines, AC has some limitations which has led to
the use of DC transmission in some projects .With reduced
size, cost and improved reliability of power electronic
converters, has made HVDC transmission more widespread.

OBJECTIVE
HVDC transmission has been in use for more than 50 years.
It has proved to be a reliable and valuable transmission
media for electrical energy and has a number of technical
advantages compared with HVAC transmission.
Nonetheless ,a comprehensive HVDC/HVAC system planning
approach is not commonly found within utilities, and
therefore full advantage is not being taken of the HVDC
technology.
We describe the present HVDC technology, the
developments in energy policies and transmission
networks, and outline opportunities that
may arise for HVDC transmission. Finally, review the
challenges presently preventing greater acceptance
of HVDC as the solution to transmission needs, and
discuss how these challenges could be overcome.

LITERATURE SURVEY

E. W. Kimbark, Direct Current Transmission, John Whiley & Sons

Inc, 1971
CIGRE WG B4.37, VSC Transmission, ClGRE Brochure 269, April
2005.
A. Orzechowski, "Analysis of Possible Enhancement of Transmission
Capacity while Converting 220kv Alternating Current Overhead
Lines into Direct Current Lines", Paper B4-105, ClGRE Session 2004
Nordel, Prioritised Cross-Sections - status report, June 2005
Lionel O. Barthold, Hartmung Huang, "Conversion of AC
Transmission Lines to HVDC Using Current Modulation," IEEE
PES Inaugural 2005 Conference and Exposition, Durban, South
Africa, July II-IS, 2005

WHY HVDC TRANSMISSION ?

CHARACTERISTICS
HVDC transmission is available in two different technologies,
i.e. line-commutated current-sourced converter (LCC HVDC)
and self-commutated voltage sourced converters (VSC
Transmission). Both technologies convert ac to dc and vice
versa, and use direct current for transmission between
terminals. This means that power transmission can be
performed between asynchronous networks. There is no
reactive power flow on the dc line, therefore, there is no
technical limit to the transmission distance. The limit to
distance is economic, since the power loss in the transmission
line may eventually become unacceptably high, when
practical conductor diameters are used. The practical
transmission distance increases with the voltage.

TECHNICAL ADVANTAGES

Reactive power requirement is fulfilled.

System stability

Short Circuit Current

Independent Control of ac system

Fast change of energy flow

Lesser Corona Loss and Radio interference

Greater Reliability.

No limits in transmitted distance

Direction of power flow can be changed very quickly

LCC-HVDC
LCC stands for line commutated current source converter.
Figure shows a monopolar LCC-HVDC Scheme

VSC TRANSMISSION

COMPARISON
VSC-HVDC

Generates its own ac voltage

from the dc capacitor, which
means that it can operate as a
power supply to a passive ac
network.

LCC-HVDC

Cannot operate as a power

supply. It requires power from
outside.

Ability to control the reactive

power at the ac terminals

No such ability.

Because of the controllability

of the reactive power, the ac
harmonic filters are not
needed.

Harmonic filters are needed

to filter out the harmonics
produced.

HVDC SYSTEM
CHALLENGES
Power

loss
Harmonics
Operation of HVDC Scheme with Ground
return
Cost and value of HVDC
Integration of HVDC scheme in AC
network
Complexity of HVDC schemes
Stability of Network with multiple lines of
HVDC

POWER LOSS
The power loss in a HVDC converter station is higher than that in an ac
substation, because of the conversion between ac and dc and the
harmonics produced by this process. However, the power loss in a HVDC
transmission line can be 50 to 70%of that in an equivalent HVAC
transmission line. Thus for large distances, an HVDC solution may have
lower loss. Thyristors are highly efficient conversion devices, and the
efficiency of each LCC HVDC converter station is typically about 99.3%
POSSIBLE SOLUTION:
New generations of semi-conductors, e.g. the use of Silicon Carbide,
diamond or other materials.This should take into account the loss in
converters, dc lines and any power loss reduction in the ac network, e.g.
elimination of loop power flows and balancing of power flow in ac lines.

HARMONICS
HVDC requires electronic converters that produce harmonics .It
mainly offers two problems to HVDC transmission :
1.The AC filters used to filter out these harmonics increase the
harmonic pollution in the network, making ac harmonic filtering
increasingly difficult, and therefore expensive
2. The ac harmonic filters and shunt capacitor banks used for
reactive power compensation can actually cause magnification of
the distortion caused by other remote harmonic sources.
SOLUTION:
1.New converter topologies
2.Commercialization of low-cost active ac harmonic filters, which
would provide adaptable filtering of
harmonics over a broad range.

COMPLEXITY OF HVDC
SCHEMES
Specially trained personnel are required for
maintenance and fault finding
Personnel Have to keep their skills up to date,
and this cost needs to be taken into account by
the Owner.

Solution :
Fault finding requirements could be reduced by
development of the monitoring system.

STABILITY OF NETWORK WITH MULTIPLE LINES OF HVDC

Interaction between multiple HVDC schemes may result in Commutation
failures, which are typically caused by large voltage dips or sudden ac
voltage phase angle changes. could be caused by disturbances on another
HVDC scheme, and interaction between schemes could potentially cause
instability.
Solution:
Using VSC HVDC instead of LCC-HVDC as VSC Transmission does not
suffer from commutation failures. and is therefore not likely to suffer from
instability, even if several HVDC terminate in close proximity to each other.

CONCLUSION
HVDC clearly offers number of technical as well as
economical advantages but it is not suitable for all
transmission applications.
There are some technical challenges which have to
be faced when applying an HVDC scheme.
The growth in environmental opposition and the
need for energy diversity will result in a dramatic
growth in the application of HVDC schemes, if the
problems associated with it are rectified.

REFERENCES

HVDC Transmission - Opportunities and Challenges

Dr B.R. Andersen,IEEE paper
Comparative Evaluation of HVDC and HVAC
Transmission Systems Kala Meah*, Student Member,
IEEE, and Sadrul Ula, Senior Member, IEEE
M. Bahrman, A-A. Edris, R. Haley, Asynchronous
back-to-back HVDC link with voltage source
converter, Presented at Minnesota Power System
Conference, Nov 1999,USA.