Performance analysis of voltage source converter based high voltage direct current line under small control perturbations

Abstract

High voltage direct current (HVDC) systems provide important advantages; among them the ability to transmit enormous amounts of electrical power over great distances at low cost. As a result, planners of power systems consider it as a viable choice for power transmission and interconnection of asynchronous networks. Depending on HVDC grids, continental/super grids have been recently constructed to promote global economic development. The study described in the paper focuses on the behavior of a voltage sourced converter (VSC) based HVDC transmission system comprising three arms-neutral point clamped (NPC) converters interconnecting two asynchronous alternating current (AC) networks. In addition, the system components, and the vector control strategy of active/reactive powers and direct current (DC) bus voltage are simulated in MATLAB/Simulink under varying situations by adjusting the controller’s settings. The study records and analyzes AC/DC voltages and active/reactive powers at two converter stations under varying power and voltage conditions. The results of the study provide key performance indicators, such as settling time (tsett), steady state error (SSE), overshot/undershoot (OS%/US%), and correlation factor (CF), which demonstrate the robustness of the system’s control.