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

Multivariable H_inf Loop-Shaping Control for a PWR Nuclear Power Plant

For a Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) nuclear power plant, a control-oriented dynamic model, based on lumped-parameter mass, energy and momentum conservation equations, is provided first, with focus on the reactor core, the primary circuit, the steam generators and the steam turbine system. A 900 MWe PWR plant for which operating data are available in the literature is taken as a reference for model parameter tuning. Then, the reactor-turbine control problem is considered, in normal operating conditions, in the reactor-following operating mode: steam pressure at the turbine inlet and the generated electric power are controlled by the reactor control rods and the turbine inlet valve, so as to be able to comply with load variation requests. Primary grid frequency control is considered as well. These problems are tackled by a multivariable H∞ loop-shaping technique, thus obtaining robustly stabilizing controllers ensuring effective reference tracking and good disturbance rejection. The performance of the proposed control scheme is tested by MATLAB-Simulinkr simulation