The Future of High Power Electronics in Transmission and Distribution Power Systems

Colin C Davidson AREVA T&D UK Ltd HVDC & FACTS St Leonards Avenue Stafford, ST17 0JZ, UK Tel.: +44 / (0) 17 85 23 87 69 Fax: +44 / (0) 17 85 23 88 42 E-Mail: colin.davidson@areva-td.com URL: http://www.areva-td.com Guillaume de Prville AREVA T&D Special Power Supplies 102 rue de Paris Massy, 91300, France Tel.: +33 / (0) 1 64 47 81 30 Fax: +33 / (0) 1 64 47 82 32 E-Mail: guillaume.de-preville@areva-td.com URL: http://www.areva-td.com

Keywords
Power transmission, HVDC, FACTS, Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM), Voltage Source Converter (VSC).

Abstract
Although the term "Power Electronics" covers a very wide spectrum of power ratings and applications (from Watts to Gigawatts), Power Electronics applications for the Transmission and Distribution (T&D) market tend to be amongst the very highest in terms of voltage and power rating. Moreover, these applications are part of a very rapidly growing market and one that is closely linked with the emerging field of Smart Grids. Some T&D applications of Power Electronics, such as High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) have been available for many decades, yet are currently enjoying an unprecedented period of market growth and rapid technical development. Voltage-Sourced Converter technologies (VSC) now sit alongside conventional Current-Sourced (Line Commutated) HVDC solutions and are opening up new market segments. Other "Flexible AC Transmission" (FACTS) systems, such as the STATCOM, are also available in the Transmission (HV) market and are starting to penetrate the Distribution (MV and LV) markets. AREVA T&D was a pioneer in the design of transmission STATCOMs, and built the world's first commercial STATCOM project using its "chain link" technology. MV applications of power electronics are driven mainly by the challenges imposed by distributed generation such as wind energy. The STATCOM can be equipped with battery energy storage to smooth out short-term variability of power generation, or even to connect to other STATCOMs via a DC cable network, creating an "MVDC" grid. With a new generation of MV or HV DC-DC converters, it is even possible that one day DC will once again become the preferred medium for power transmission, just as it was promoted by Thomas Edison in the 1880s.

Introduction
Power Electronics is a term which means different things to different audiences. Semiconductors used to switch powers of a few Watts are often referred to as Power Electronics; however, at the other end of the power scale are applications for electricity Transmission and Distribution (T&D) where powers are measured in Gigawatts. The highest power ratings of any Power Electronics application are those associated with power transmission by High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC). HVDC is not a new technology the first

HVDC link was put into service more than 50 years ago but is re-emerging as a very important technology for large-scale bulk power transfer over long distances, particularly in emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil. As a result, the HVDC market is currently enjoying very rapid growth and technological development. Schemes based on traditional line-commutated HVDC technology are now being built for transmitting powers of up to 6.4GW at 800kV, and the newer Voltage-Sourced Converter HVDC technology is becoming more competitive for intermediate power levels up to a few hundred MW. In the related field of Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS), the market growth and technological change are also fast. The most well-established FACTS technology (the Static Var Compensator or SVC) is well established but still represents an important technology for T&D systems. Its Voltage-Sourced Converter equivalent, the STATCOM (Static Synchronous Compensator) has been available for niche applications on HV transmission networks for over a decade, and is starting to find many applications on MV networks, particularly because of the growth of distributed generation such as wind energy. The STATCOM and VSC-HVDC technologies actually have much in common, and have the potential to be used in many more applications than they are currently being used in. As will be discussed below, they have the potential to be an enabling technology for a new system of DC grids overlaid upon (and perhaps one day even replacing) the traditional AC grid that has existed for over a century.

Ultra-High Voltage Line-Commutated HVDC

High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) has been used in niche power transmission applications for more than half a century, and represents the highest power of any power electronics application. As is well known [1], it offers advantages over power transmission by AC in two key situations: (a) when large amounts of power have to be transmitted over long distances, and (b) to interconnect two different asynchronous AC networks. HVDC has the advantage of allowing additional power to be injected into a network without increasing the fault level. Until relatively recently, all HVDC projects have relied on line commutated technology, that is, the switching elements (originally mercury arc valves but using high power thyristors since the 1970s), had the capability of turning on but not turning off. With this arrangement, the converter is said to be a Current-Sourced Converter. Whilst the lack of turn-off ability imposes certain operational restrictions that do not exist with the more modern Voltage-Sourced Converter HVDC described in the next section, Line-Commutated HVDC (LCC-HVDC) remains far more efficient at transmitting large amounts of power. In short, thyristor technology is certainly not dead yet. In fact, in recent years there has been a rapid growth in the market for LCC-HVDC, and this is spurring rapid technological change. The market growth is driven by two main factors: The growing need to connect large-scale renewable energy sources, located well away from population centres, to the grid. The rapid development of the electricity infrastructures of large developing countries such as China, India and Brazil. Until only a few years ago, a large HVDC transmission project involved a power of 2000-2500MW transmitted at 500kV over a distance of perhaps 1000km. Today, however, the powers and distances involved in many of the projects being considered are so great that the transmission voltages have been increased from the de facto standard 500kV to 800kV in just a few years, and even 1000kV is under consideration in China. Fig. 1 shows the evolution of typical transmission voltages over time for HVDC projects.

Operating at higher DC voltages requires development in a number of key areas. Technologically the most difficult areas are those that have nothing do with power electronics, for example the converter transformer, its bushings and associated measurement transducers and switchgear.
1200kV 1000kV 800kV 600kV 400kV 200kV CahoraBassa 533kV* 1000kV When? First 800kV project Ordered 2007 660kV being considered in China as new Standard Itaipu 600kV* Rio-Madeira 6500MW at 600kV ordered

500kV becomes de facto standard for single 12pulse bridge per pole

* Multiple bridges per pole

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

2020

Fig. 1: Evolution of HVDC transmission voltage, 1954-present day However, the developments associated with the core of the HVDC converter, the thyristor valve, are also significant. As is well described in literature such as [1], a thyristor valve for HVDC consists of a large number of identical thyristor levels connected in series. The number of thyristor levels connected in series depends on the operating voltage of the valve, but to a good approximation the design is scaleable to achieve twice the voltage rating, the valve needs twice the number of thyristor levels. However, there are subtle effects related mainly to the distribution of stray capacitances in the converter which dictate that care needs to be taken in extrapolating from low voltage to high voltage. The second main area of development for the thyristor valve is to ensure that the external surface of the valve is very smooth. Any sharp points or corners would result in very high local electric field strengths, leading to local ionization of the air. The resulting corona discharge would generate harmful ozone and UV radiation as well as increase the risk of flashover. Even with a smooth external profile, an air-insulated component operating at 800kVDC requires a clearance to ground of some 9m, and this figure can be increased rapidly by sharp points creating local high-field regions. Figure 2 shows a photograph of an 800kV valve undergoing voltage withstand testing with an impulse voltage of 2600kV, resulting in an arc more than 8m long, and figure 3 shows an image of a thyristor valve being built for a 660kV DC project in China. The structure shown contains two thyristor valves in series, each containing 111, 7.2kV, 5 diameter thyristors connected in series.

Fig. 2: High voltage testing of an 800kV thyristor valve

12m?

Fig. 3: A Double-Valve structure for the Ningdong-Shandong 660kVDC project in China Along with the rapid development of transmission voltage has come an equally rapid development of DC current capacity. Until just 2 years ago, very few HVDC transmission projects operated with a DC current above 3000A. Today, however, one 800kV HVDC project is being built in China with a rated DC current of 4000A (giving a total bipole power of 6.4GW) and many more are planned, some at even higher currents. The valves for an HVDC Back to Back converter operating at a nominal DC current of 4500A have just been tested by AREVA T&D. The key enabling technology for this has been the development of 6 diameter thyristors. With a voltage rating of 7.2kV per thyristor, these thyristors are capable of operating at DC currents of 5000A, and even higher currents can be achieved by using lower-voltage thyristors (which have thinner silicon and hence lower on-state voltage) although this would obviously come at the expense of requiring more thyristors in series per valve. LCC-HVDC looks set to remain a very important technology for long-distance transmission of high powers for at least the next 10-15 years. However, for lower powers in the range of a few hundred MW, Line-Commutated HVDC is increasingly facing competition from the newer Voltage-Sourced Converter (VSC) HVDC technology, which has important technical advantages in some applications.

Voltage-Sourced Converter HVDC

The main disadvantage of classical line-commutated HVDC is its inability to operate on very weak AC systems at the inverter end without the use of synchronous compensators or other systems to provide a rotating voltage reference with inertia. This makes it impractical to use LCC-HVDC to feed small islands which have no generation of their own. The newer Voltage Sourced Converter technology started to appear in HVDC applications in 1997 and avoids these problems because the semiconductors have the capability to be turned off as well as on that is to say, the converter is Self-Commutated as opposed to Line-Commutated (strictly speaking, most of the performance advantages of Voltage Sourced HVDC arise from the fact that it is SelfCommutated, rather than from the fact that it is Voltage-Sourced per se). A Self-Commutated converter requires semiconductor devices with both turn-on and turn-off capability. Several candidate high-power devices are available such as GTOs, IGCTs, IEGTs etc but the most commonly used device is the Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT). However, since commercially available IGBTs have rated voltages of only a few kV each, designers are faced with the same dilemma as for classical HVDC - how to extrapolate to much higher voltages. There are several different solutions to this problem [2]. The following sections outline the main alternatives.

Series-connected IGBTs with Pulse-Width Modulation

Almost all of the VSC-HVDC installations in service today rely on a relatively simple converter circuit that follows closely the principles used in classical HVDC. This circuit requires large number of IGBTs to be connected and switched in series. Figure 4 shows the basic circuit for a 2-level converter used for VSC-HVDC.
+V +V

-V

-V

Fig. 4: Two level converter in 3-phase (Grtz bridge) configuration Whilst this circuit is superficially simple and bears an apparent resemblance to the circuit used for LCC-HVDC, there are a number of disadvantages. First, to achieve the required voltage rating, large numbers of IGBTs need to be connected in series in each valve. Ensuring safe voltage sharing between the series-connected IGBTs requires either large, heavy, passive snubber circuits (as on LCCHVDC valves) or sophisticated active voltage sharing using the transistors in their linear mode. Also, because this is only a 2-level circuit, that is to say it has only two possible output voltage states per phase, the valves need to be switched many times per cycle (Pulse Width Modulation: PWM) in order to obtain adequate harmonic performance. Whilst PWM is a well-established technique at lower powers, it dramatically increases the switching losses of the semiconductors, which can impose a heavy economic penalty in T&D applications. The AC connections to the converters also experience very fast, large-amplitude, repetitive voltage transients with very high dv/dt, leading to potential EMC problems and requiring a complex design of phase reactor.

Finally, although the low-order (11th, 13th etc) harmonics that are characteristic of LCC-HVDC converters are eliminated, there is still a need for AC harmonic filters to deal with the sidebands and harmonics of the PWM frequency (typically 2kHz and above).

Multi-Level Circuits
Numerous so-called Multi-Level circuits have been proposed, such as the 3-level neutral-pointclamped circuit which produces three possible output voltage levels per phase, instead of the two obtained from the preceding circuit. Several VSC-HVDC schemes have been built with this 3-level neutral-point-clamped circuit. However, 3-level circuits used on an HVDC application still need Pulse-Width Modulation and passive AC filters, and the same would be true of more complex circuits such as 5-level converters. Modular Multi-Level Converter (MMLC) Other Multi-level circuits, however, such as the Modular Multi-Level Converter (MMLC) described in [3] are able to obtain almost perfect voltage and current waveforms on the AC side by virtue of providing tens or even hundreds of discrete output voltage levels. The principle of this circuit is based on the series connection of a large number of independent converter cells in each phase, each comprising a DC link capacitor, two IGBTs and two freewheel diodes in parallel with the IGBTs: see Figure 5. Each Valve:
DC Transmission System

Udc Udc
Valve Voltage

VSC Valve

V1 AC
VSC Valve

V2
Udc_module IGBT1 Udc_module IGBT2

Module Output voltage

+Udc

U(V1)

U(V2)

U
0

Fig. 5: Modular Multi-Level Converter (MMLC) In the MMLC converter, each valve is actually a controllable voltage source, arranged to synthesise a fully offset-sinusoidal voltage varying from zero to Vdc (where Vdc is the line-to-line DC voltage of the converter). Each valve carries one third of the DC current superimposed on half of the AC current, and is therefore a partly-offset sinusoidal current which is positive for 240 of the cycle. Other Modular Multi-Level circuits The circuit described in the preceding section is not the only circuit that can be used to obtain high pulse-numbers with a scaleable, modular approach. A variation is the use of the full chain link circuit shown in Figure 6. This circuit was pioneered by AREVA in STATCOM applications as described in the following section and in [4]. When used in the HVDC circuit it functions in a very similar way to the MMLC circuit described in the preceding section but has the added flexibility that each module can be controlled to give an output voltage of either polarity instead of a unipolar output.

Module Output voltage Udc_module

U
IGBT1 Udc_module IGBT2 IGBT4 IGBT3

Or..

Fig. 6: Multilevel converter using full chain links.

Characteristics
One of the major advantages of VSC-HVDC over LCC-HVDC is that, because the semiconductor devices are fully controllable (they can be turned off as well as on), it is possible to control the converter to operate at unity power factor. When combined with a circuit that gives sufficiently low harmonics, this gives the possibility to operate with no AC harmonic filters at all. However, although it is possible for the circuit to operate at unity power factor, it is not necessary. The converter has a defined rating, in MVA, which (with certain limitations) can be used entirely for real power transfer, entirely for reactive power transfer or any combination of the two as illustrated on Figure 7. The change of behaviour in the right hand half of the chart corresponds to limitations imposed by the DC link voltage (which cannot be less than the peak AC voltage produced by the converter) when the converter is generating reactive power (which requires a converter voltage exceeding the AC system voltage).
+P (Inverter) Low AC Voltage High AC Voltage

Constant MVA

-Q (inductive)

+Q (capacitive)

Limitation in capacitive mode

-P (Rectifier)

Fig. 7: P-Q operating characteristics of a VSC-HVDC. This makes the VSC-HVDC converter tremendously useful and versatile. Whilst its primary purpose is, of course, to transfer real power, in principle it can also be used as a reactive power compensator even in the event that the DC cable or the other DC converter is faulty.

STATCOM (Static Synchronous Compensator)

Operating Principles
The STATCOM is a type of power electronic converter designed specifically for reactive power compensation only. It performs the same function as the Static Var Compensator (SVC), a technology which has been available since the 1950s, but works on a different principle. The STATCOM uses a Voltage Sourced Converter to synthesise a fundamental-frequency sinusoidal voltage of controllable amplitude, approximately in phase with the AC system to which it is connected (Figure 8). If the STATCOM voltage is greater in magnitude than the AC system, reactive power is generated (the STATCOM behaves like a shunt capacitor) while if it is lower than the AC system, reactive power is absorbed (like a shunt reactor). These characteristics are the same as for a Synchronous Compensator apart from the fact that the magnitude of the synthesised voltage can be changed more rapidly.
US
I UL

UC

US
I

UL

UC

UC
I

U
Us U L Uc

US UC
t UC UL US I If UC < US , then I is inductive

US

If U C > US , then I is capacitive

Fig. 8: Principles of STATCOM

The STATCOM can be regarded as a special case of a VSC-HVDC converter one in which the real power is zero and the DC transmission circuit is open. Demonstrator STATCOMs first appeared on the Utility power systems in the 1980s in Japan and the mid 1990s in the USA, but the first fully commercial Utility STATCOM was ordered in 1997 by National Grid in the UK [4].

Overview of Technologies
STATCOM technologies cover a wide range of powers from very large STATCOMs in the hundreds of MVar range for Utility power systems, all the way down to low-voltage STATCOMs rated at under 1MVar for direct connection to LV (400V) distribution systems. The power circuit for a STATCOM has to satisfy exactly the same compromises as does the power circuit for VSC-HVDC that is to say: how to obtain a sufficiently good approximation to a sinusoidal output voltage, and for larger STATCOMs for MV and HV applications, how to obtain sufficiently high voltage and high reactive power when the individual semiconductor devices on which it is based are only rated at a few kV each Not surprisingly, the same choices of circuit considered for VSC-HVDC are also considered for STATCOMs. The STATCOMs that have been built to date fall into one of two basic categories: Simple 2-level or 3-level main circuit, using either pulse-width modulation or transformercoupling several converters together to achieve adequately low harmonics Modular, multi-level approach using series-connected H bridges (Chain Links).

Within each of these two categories, several variations are possible depending on the required rating and the available types of semiconductor.

2-level and 3-level STATCOM circuits

With a simple converter type such as the basic 2-level or 3-level neutral-point clamped circuits (as discussed under VSC-HVDC above) there are a number of ways of realising a STATCOM: Single converter with a single semiconductor device in series per valve. This is of course the simplest circuit but is limited to a few MVar per converter. PWM is required in order to obtain adequate harmonic performance. Multiple converters connected in parallel, with a single semiconductor device in series per valve. PWM is required in order to obtain adequate harmonic performance. For low to moderate ratings this is quite a flexible option; however the AC connection voltage is necessarily quite low (typically 1-2kVrms) so a step-down transformer is required and LV busbar currents can be quite high. Single converter with multiple semiconductor devices in series per valve. PWM is required in order to obtain adequate harmonic performance. This is similar to the approach used for most of the existing VSC-HVDC installations, and carries the same technical challenges. However, it does offer the possibility of realizing a high rating (>100MVar) in a single converter. Multiple converters connected in parallel, with multiple semiconductor devices in series per valve and Pulse Width Modulation. The only significant advantage of this option over the preceding one is the prospect of reducing the operating voltage of the converter, which could be an advantage with certain types of semiconductor (for example GTOs or IGCTs) where series connection of very large numbers is more difficult. Multiple converters connected in parallel, with multiple semiconductor devices in series per valve, not using Pulse Width Modulation. In this variation, which has been used in at least one Utility STATCOM [5], the valves are only switched once per cycle (to minimize switching losses) and to obtain adequate harmonic performance, many such converters are combined magnetically using a complex multi-winding transformer. This approach was chosen because the semiconductor devices available at the time (GTOs) had high switching losses and were difficult to connect in series strings of more than 5 or 6. AREVA T&D have a range of converters (the MaxSine family) which fall into the first and second of these groups. They are designed to be used in STATCOM applications for the LV and MV networks, in addition providing active filtering capability. The highest-power product, SVC MaxSine, uses a three-level topology with an AC connection voltage of 2kV rms and a nominal MVar output of 2MVar per module. The basic circuit is Line-Neutral as Figure 9. voltage
+ V dc

Vdc

V
- Vdc

Line-Line voltage

Vdc

+Vdc

V
-Vdc

Fig. 9: Three level neutral-point-clamped converter as used in SVC MaxSine. The system is modular and easily expandable by simply connecting modules in parallel. Up to 12 such modules, giving an output of 24MVar, can be connected in parallel to a single step-down transformer, and several such transformers can be grouped together under a single master controller

(Figure 10). An installation of this type, consisting of a 72MVar STATCOM (36 modules) and 72MVar fixed capacitor has recently been commissioned for an electric arc furnace application.
HV

MV bus

Master Controller

LV bus (2kVrms)

LV bus (2kVrms)

2MVAr

2MVAr

2MVAr

2MVAr

2MVAr

2MVAr

2MVAr

2MVAr

Up to 12 Modules (24MVAr) in parallel per transformer

Up to 12 Modules (24MVAr) in parallel per transformer

Fig. 10: A STATCOM installation consisting of multiple MaxSine modules in parallel The SVC MaxSine product is being developed to extend the output voltage and power per module so that it can be directly connected to Medium Voltage AC networks in the range 10-33kV without a step-down transformer.

Cascaded H-Bridge STATCOM (Chain Circuit)

The combination of simple 2-level and 3-level converter bridges gives a cost-effective solution for small STATCOMs. However, for the largest STATCOMs, or where single-phase control is needed, the chain circuit used in the worlds first commercial STATCOM, as described in [4], gives greater flexibility. This uses an arrangement of cascaded H-Bridges (the so-called Chain Circuit) in each phase, to synthesize a sinusoidal voltage in each phase (Figure 11). Chain links can be connected either in a Delta configuration or a star configuration. The system is inherently single-phase and therefore very suitable for applications where unbalanced loads are present, for example Electric Arc Furnaces (EAF) and traction load balancers.
A Chain with three Links
+ + +
Buffer Reactor

U
+ -

CDC

Output Voltage
3U 2U U 0 -U -2U -3U
T6777

1 2 3 4 N

Valve Arrester

One Link Buffer Reactor

N typically 15

Fig. 11: Chain Circuit STATCOM The first project built using this topology, the East Claydon STATCOM for National Grid in UK, used 16 such chain links in series (2 redundant per phase) to realise a 75MVar STATCOM, which was

combined with a 127Mvar TSC and 23 Mvar passive filter. A second project in the USA [6], at Glenbrook in Connecticut, used two 75MVar STATCOMs, each with 15 chain links per phase (in this case, only 1 redundant). In this latter case, no AC harmonic filters were required. A cascaded H bridge STATCOM for distribution grid (D-STATCOM) is being developed for industrial and distribution grid applications. The arrangement is based on the same principles presented above. The control is different as it uses the Pulse Width Modulation technique. The advantage of such a structure is the minimization of the losses due to the benefit of series connection of cells and the overlapping of PWM patterns amongst them, thus the switching frequency per component is low, whereas the resulting frequency on the network is high. For instance, for a +/10MVar, consisting of 4 Chain links in series, with PWM at 750Hz, the resulting frequency is 6 kHz at the output as shown in the picture 12. A small AC filter is then sufficient to get THD <1% at the common point of coupling and a simple distribution transformer is needed for voltage adaptation to the grid.
4 cascaded H-bridge - 2L PWM
f1= 50.0 Hz fs=750 Hz m=0.80 1
Uab/(4*Uc)

0.5 0 -0.5
-1 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06

0.05 0.04
Amplitude

0.03 0.02 0.01 0 0 0.5 1 1.5 Frquence 2 2.5

x 10

3
4

Fig. 12: Output voltage and frequency spectrum for a 4 chain link STATCOM The Chain link D-STATCOM can be proposed in star configuration or in delta configuration for load balancing considerations. The other main characteristic is the overload capability for voltage support in case of fault on the grid. This has its main importance in wind energy integration. AREVA is developing a +/-10MVar with an overload capability of 2 p u for 2s per 10min. Typical MV network applications The shunt Static Var System is used in distribution utilities and industrial network for power quality purposes as fast voltage support and reactive power compensation in flicker mitigation, harmonic filtering & damping and fault-ride-through capabilities. For instance, in wind farm integration [7],[8] the reactive power compensation is advantageously managed by a SVC or a D-STATCOM. Figure 13 shows the benefits that a D-STATCOM of +/-10MVA brings for a wind farm of 10MW consisting of several fixed-speed wind turbine generators, in the case of low voltage: Without any compensation, the machines recover with some difficulties, causing some perturbations on the voltage at the point of common coupling. With an appropriately-rated D-STATCOM, the recovery is facilitated.

Voltage at PCC (pu)

Voltage at PCC (pu)

2.5 s Active Power (MW)

0.5 s Active Power (MW)

Reactive power (MVAR)

Reactive power (MVAR)

Generator Voltage at Generator Busbar (pu)

-13 MVAR Voltage at Generator Busbar (pu)

0.3 Current at PCC (pu/10MVA) Current at PCC (pu/10MVA)

Fig. 13: Low Voltage Ride-Through (LVRT) with a D-STATCOM Another typical application is the flicker mitigation with a large Electrical Arc Furnace [9]. The EAF is generating large reactive power fluctuations causing flicker. To mitigate the flicker, fast reactive power compensators are needed, such as SVC and D-STATCOM or the combination of both. For instance, Fig. 14 hereafter presents the flicker reduction performance (expressed in terms if PST Perturbation Short-Term) with a SVC, a full D-STATCOM and a combination of both. For large flicker mitigation performance, a full D-STATCOM or a combination of SVC and D-STATCOM is preferred to a single SVC solution.

Fig. 14: PST reduction efficiency with shunt SVS. In the distribution grid evolution, small and dispersed reactive power compensators will be needed to mitigate Quality issues. It could be done through small sized D-STATCOM products or small sized Static Var Compensators, preferably directly connected to the grid, without a step-down transformer.

Power Quality issues can be also approached through active and hybrid filters based on VSC technology.

STATCOM with energy storage

Many of the problems associated with connecting wind farms in the MV grid can be solved by shortterm storage of energy. Short term storage can be provided quite easily using banks of batteries. Batteries require, of course, a DC charging/discharging supply, but fortunately this is exactly what is available with a STATCOM. As noted above, a STATCOM is really just a special case of a Voltage Sourced Converter (VSC) which operates with reactive power only. This means that a STATCOM can quite easily be augmented by adding a battery bank in parallel with the DC capacitor, so that in addition to providing reactive power compensation, it can charge the battery when surplus energy is available and discharge it back into the grid during short supply interruptions. This concept has already been proven on a converter of the AREVA SVC MaxSine range.

Medium Voltage DC (MVDC) interconnections

MV Distribution systems tend to be radial in nature and (particularly in rural areas) can suffer from problems of voltage rise or voltage drop at the ends of the radial feeders. These problems are exacerbated by the connection of Distributed Generation to distribution feeders. The obvious solution to this problem (strengthening the MV AC network) tends to increase the fault level and can often cause the ratings of already-installed switchgear to be exceeded. HVDC is a well-established solution to the analogous problem in HV Transmission networks, where it can bring all the benefits of a highly interconnected network without increasing the fault level. However HVDC has yet to make any substantial impact on MV systems, mainly because the cost has been too high. However, with VSC technology, for the smaller ratings applicable to MV networks, there is the prospect of a family of low-cost, standardised, multi-purpose converters suitable for real and/or reactive power applications. Having already proven the suitability of the MaxSine converter family for use with real power applications it is a small additional step to connect two such converters together via their DC link capacitors to form a MVDC connector. AREVA T&D foresees that MVDC networks of this type, overlaid upon the traditional AC grid, may start to become increasingly widespread as large-scale integration of renewable energy sources becomes more common. They may, one day, even replace AC networks altogether, bringing history interestingly back to the situation that existed in the 1880s where AC and DC were fighting for supremacy in the so-called Battle of the Currents. However, two further developments are necessary to realise this goal: The development of high voltage, high power DC circuit breakers The development of high power, high-efficiency DC-DC converters.

Both of these areas are being actively researched by AREVA T&D.

Conclusion
Power Electronics has, for many decades, been a niche application in T&D systems. Applications such as HVDC have long had their place, without ever being mainstream. However, the situation is changing and Power Electronic systems are increasingly being seen not just as a niche application but central to the whole operating principles of the grid. There is much talk of Smart Grids and how this somewhat ill-defined alliance of technologies will revolutionise the power grid. Smart Grids are widely assumed to be only about smart metering and wide area energy metering systems, but implicit in the whole concept is the idea that grid operators (be they human or computerised) need to be able to control where the power flows. With conventional

AC grids this is simply not possible: the flow of power between two points is determined only by the impedance and phase angle between the two points, neither of which is readily controllable. Only power electronics has the ability to over-ride these classical laws and make the power flow where it is needed, rather than where it wants to flow. A new range of multi-purpose Voltage-Sourced Converters has the potential to create the building blocks of a future DC Grid, both at HV and MV levels, which could see history come full circle back to the time when Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse were rivals in the Battle of the Currents in the 1880s.

References
[1] Arrillaga J., High Voltage Direct Current Transmission, ISBN 0 85296 941 4. [2] Flourentzou N., Agelidis G., Demetriades G.D., VSC-Based HVDC Power Tranmission Systems: An Overview, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, Vol 24, No. 3, March 2009. [3] Lesnicar A. and Marquardt R.: An innovative modular multi-level converter topology for a wide power range, IEEE Power Tech Conference, Bologna, Italy, June 2003 [4] Knight R.C., Young D.J., Trainer D.R., Relocatable GTO-based Static-Var Compensator for NGC Substations, CIGRE Session 1998, Paris. [5] Schauder C., Gernhardt M., Stacey E., Lemak T., Gyugyi L., Cease T.W., Edris A., Development of a 100MVAR Static Condenser for Voltage Control of Transmission Systems, IEEE 94 SM 479-6 PWRD. [6] Scarfone A.W., Oberlin B.K., Di Luca J.P.Jr., Hanson D.J., Horwill C., A 150MVAr STATCOM for Northeast Utilities Glenbrook Substation, IEEE Power Engineering Society General Meeting, 2003. [7] Courault J., de Preville G., Integration of Offshore wind Farm in power system, CIGRE 2004, Paris. [8] de Preville G., Wind farm integration in large power system: dimensioning parameters of DSTATCOM type solutions to meet grid code requirements, CIGRE 2008, Paris. [9] Michel D., de Preville G., Mixed topology for flicker mitigation, IEE 2004, Edinburgh.