Cooling Considerations for the Long Length HVDC Cables Cryostat within BEST PATHS Project

HVDC cables have been identified as the preferred solution for future pan-European grids for the transmission over long distances of the large power produced by renewable energy farms which are generally located far for the consumption places. The European project Best Paths has been launched to identify the remaining barriers and propose some innovative solutions to achieve such envisioned grids. As superconductivity offers very attractive and efficient solutions vision studies for long-distance superconducting power transmission lines are conducted. The superconducting technology under study is based on the MgB$_{2}$ conductor cooled with one-phase liquid hydrogen. A flexible cryostat with 15 to 25 K core cooling and with additional shield cooling using liquid nitrogen or hydrogen gas is required. For long length cables the limiting parameters are the cryostat heat load and the pressure drop. The calculation results show the interdependencies of the maximum length between neighboring cooling sections with the heat load on shield and core, mass flows and pressure drop, enthalpy change, viscosity, friction factors and cryostat geometry. The calculations are carried out for different fluid options and diameters, and the corresponding results are presented and discussed

DC protection of a muti-terminal HVDC network featuring offshore wind farms

A protection scheme for DC faults has been designed for a multi-terminal HVDC network used to transfer energy from three large offshore wind farms to shore. The system uses open access models created in the EU-funded BEST-PATHS project, including a manufacturer-supplied wind farm model. Tripping conditions for the DC circuit breakers are found through simulation, along with current limiting inductor sizes, based on the use of a hybrid circuit breaker. Simulations of faults in the HVDC network show the ability of the protection scheme to isolate the fault, and the converter stations and wind turbines are able to ride-through the fault without tripping based on the 5ms switching time of the circuit breakers Longer switching times will cause significant rises in the offshore grid frequency, which could cause the turbines to trip

DC protection of a muti-terminal HVDC network featuring offshore wind farms

A protection scheme for DC faults has been designed for a multi-terminal HVDC network used to transfer energy from three large offshore wind farms to shore. The system uses open access models created in the EU-funded BEST-PATHS project, including a manufacturer-supplied wind farm model. Tripping conditions for the DC circuit breakers are found through simulation, along with current limiting inductor sizes, based on the use of a hybrid circuit breaker. Simulations of faults in the HVDC network show the ability of the protection scheme to isolate the fault, and the converter stations and wind turbines are able to ride-through the fault without tripping based on the 5ms switching time of the circuit breakers Longer switching times will cause significant rises in the offshore grid frequency, which could cause the turbines to trip

Open access simulation toolbox for the grid connection of offshore wind farms using multi-terminal HVDC networks

Decarbonisation of the European electricity system can become dauntingly costly due to transmission and distribution network issues arising from the integration of intermittent renewable generation sources. It is expected that wind energy will be the principal renewable source by 2050 and, as such, a number of initiatives in the academia and in the industry are being carried out to propose solutions to best accommodate the wind resource. This paper presents work carried out by DEMO 1 partners within the EU FP7 project BEST PATHS. A MATLAB/Simulink toolbox consisting of the necessary building blocks for the simulation and integration of offshore wind farms using enabling technologies such as multiterminal high-voltage direct-current grids is presented. To illustrate the toolbox capabilities, a number of system topologies is studied. System performance is assessed and measured against a set of key performance indicators. To ensure knowledge dissemination, the toolbox has been made available as open access in the BEST PATHS project website

Demonstration of Converter Control Interactions in MMC-HVDC Systems

Although the control of modular multi-level converters (MMCs) in high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) networks has become a mature subject these days, the potential for adverse interactions between different converter controls remains an under-researched challenge attracting the attention from both academia and industry. Even for point-to-point HVDC links (i.e., simple HVDC systems), converter control interactions may result in the shifting of system operating voltages, increased power losses, and unintended power imbalances at converter stations. To bridge this research gap, the risk of multiple cross-over of control characteristics of MMCs is assessed in this paper through mathematical analysis, computational simulation, and experimental validation. Specifically, the following point-to-point HVDC link configurations are examined: (1) one MMC station equipped with a current versus voltage droop control and the other station equipped with a constant power control; and (2) one MMC station equipped with a power versus voltage droop control and the other station equipped with a constant current control. Design guidelines for droop coefficients are provided to prevent adverse control interactions. A 60-kW MMC test-rig is used to experimentally verify the impact of multiple crossing of control characteristics of the DC system configurations, with results verified through software simulation in MATLAB/Simulink using an open access toolbox. Results show that in operating conditions of 650 V and 50 A (DC voltage and DC current), drifts of 7.7% in the DC voltage and of 10% in the DC current occur due to adverse control interactions under the current versus voltage droop and power control scheme. Similarly, drifts of 7.7% both in the DC voltage and power occur under the power versus voltage droop and current control scheme.This work was supported by the EU FP7 program, through the project “BEyond State of the art Technologies for re-Powering AC corridors and multi-Terminal HVDC Systems” (BEST-PATHS), grant agreement 612748. The simulation toolbox can be downloaded from the project website at www.bestpaths-project.eu (accessed on 10 December 2021)

Status of MgB2 superconducting wires at Sam Dong

MgB2 superconducting wires have remarkable potential as cost-effective materials for transformers, generators, power transmission, and superconducting magnetic energy storage to enable highly efficient power-grid networks for sustainable development. Herein, we report multifilamentary MgB2 wires with variously designed architectures that have been developed by Sam Dong Co., Ltd. The customized manufacturing process can also produce long-length pieces up to 3 km in length, indispensable in constructing large-scale devices, including cables. Based on this progress, we will continue to develop high-performance MgB2 wires and related superconducting technologies

Space charges analysis on insulator with uniform layer contamination effect

High voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission provides an attractive alternative for bulk power transfer. However, HVDC transmission may have loss about half per unit length of high voltage alternating current (HVAC) at the same amount of power carried. This is due to the space charge formation around the conductor in HVDC cables. It is known that the presence of space charge inside an insulator may distort the local electric field and surface energy. This paper investigates the effect of electrostatics for space charge, electric field and surface energy in the HVDC cable in clean and contaminated conditions. The effect of uniform layer contamination from oil, sandstone and fresh water was conducted on 11 kV XLPE cable using finite element software under electrostatics study. The contamination layer was created around the XLPE cable by multifarious the radius of layer contamination from the conductor. The simulation results show that enlargement of contamination layer radius by 1.0 mm (light), 1.5 mm (medium) and 2.0 mm (heavy) resulted in the reduction of surface energy by 20% and electric field by 22% but increase the space charge amplitude by 76%. The study also found that fresh water can be considered as the worst contamination compared to oil and sandstone

Cascaded- and Modular-Multilevel Converter Laboratory Test System Options: A Review

The increasing importance of cascaded multilevel converters (CMCs), and the sub-category of modular multilevel converters (MMCs), is illustrated by their wide use in high voltage DC connections and in static compensators. Research is being undertaken into the use of these complex pieces of hardware and software for a variety of grid support services, on top of fundamental frequency power injection, requiring improved control for non-traditional duties. To validate these results, small-scale laboratory hardware prototypes are often required. Such systems have been built by many research teams around the globe and are also increasingly commercially available. Few publications go into detail on the construction options for prototype CMCs, and there is a lack of information on both design considerations and lessons learned from the build process, which will hinder research and the best application of these important units. This paper reviews options, gives key examples from leading research teams, and summarizes knowledge gained in the development of test rigs to clarify design considerations when constructing laboratory-scale CMCs.This work was supported in part by The University of Manchester supported by the National Innovation Allowance project ``VSC-HVDC Model Validation and Improvement'' and Dr. Heath's iCASE Ph.D. studentship supported through Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and National Grid, in part by the Imperial College London supported by EPSRC through the HubNet Extension under Grant EP/N030028/1, in part by an iCASE Ph.D. Studentship supported by EPSRC and EDF Energy and the CDT in Future Power Networks under Grant EP/L015471/1, in part by University of New South Wales (UNSW) supported by the Solar Flagships Program through the Education Infrastructure Fund (EIF), in part by the Australian Research Council through the Discovery Early Career Research Award under Grant DECRA_DE170100370, in part by the Basque Government through the project HVDC-LINK3 under Grant ELKARTEK KK-2017/00083, in part by the L2EP research group at the University of Lille supported by the French TSO (RTE), and in part by the Hauts-de-France region of France with the European Regional Development Fund under Grant FEDER 17007725