Overview on VSC-HVDC Systems Based on PV
Jinghua Zhou, Jiewei Wu
Inverter Technologies Engineering Research Center of Beijing
North China University of Technology
Beijing, China
zjh@ncut.edu.cn
Abstract—As a result of the rapid development of DC
charging and the extensive use of electronic devices, the
number of DC loads has increased dramatically. Loads have
the characteristics of AC and DC coexist. At the same time,
there are many distributed power sources in microgrids, such
as PV, wind power generation, and so on. With natural DC
properties, some new energy power generation forms such as
PV can not only be able to achieve direct current conversion
and transmission at the power generation side, but also be
directly applied to DC loads and inverted at the load side for
AC loads. In this way, energy losses during converting will be
reduced and the structure of the power system will be
simplified. In addition, it can enhance the absorption of new
energy and realize the demand of diversified power supply.
VSC-HVDC is the best way to solve this problem. Focusing on
the flexible substation of the Alibaba Data @Hub in Zhang Bei,
China, this paper describes the construction and working
principle of a VSC-HVDC power transmission and distribution
system based on photovoltaic power generation. Accordingly,
the necessity of a multi-terminal flexible DC
(MTDC)transmission technology is proposed.
Keywords—VSC-HVDC, PV, multi-functional power
electronic transformers, DC/AC, VSC-MTDC
I. INTRODUCTION
In recent years, DC loads appear in large numbers in the
developing society. All kinds of household appliances,
electric vehicles, and data processing centers are ultimately
using direct current. Current practice is to use AC supply,
which cannot be separated by AC/DC rectifier. [1] It needs to
perform a rectification device at each power terminal. During
the conversion process, some of the loss of electrical energy
is dissipated as thermal energy. If DC power is used, it can
reduce a large number of rectifier transformers and reduce
the amount of heat that is emitted during the conversion
(reducing power loss). Moreover, it can reduce the capital
investment for ventilation fans and air conditioners. For new
energy sources such as photovoltaic power generation with
natural DC properties, if DC power transmission and
distribution are used, it can reduce the energy loss in the
intermediate conversion link. Flexible DC transmission
technology can solve this problem in a good manner.
Flexible DC transmission technology is also known as
HVDC based on voltage source converter (VSC-HVDC). It
refers to the third-generation DC transmission technology
using fully controlled power electronic devices such as
IGBTs and voltage source converters. [2] It can be achieved,
using VSC-HVDC, the DC voltage is directly boosted by
direct voltage boost and transmitted on the photovoltaic
power station side, instead of being inverted to connect to the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (51777002)
Beijing High Level Innovation Team Construction Plan (IDHT20180502)
Scientific and Technological Innovation Engineering Plan of North China
University of Technology (18XN141)
978-1-5386-6054-6/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE
grid. And DC voltage is flexibly allocated on the user side, to
provide efficient and controllable power supply for
diversified loads, and at the same time power quality is
improved.
Focusing on the Zhangbei Xiaoertai Flexible Substation
Project in China, the paper describes the system
configuration and working principle of a flexible DC
transmission and distribution system based on photovoltaic
power stations. Furthermore, the paper analyzed the HVDC
Flexible transmission valve and the user-side DCAC inverter
of the flexible DC transmission and distribution terminal.
Finally, the necessity of multi-port flexible DC transmission
is proposed.
II. AN EXAMPLE OF CHINA ZHANGBEI XIAOERTAI FLEXIBLE
SUBSTATION PROJECT
The Zhangbei Xiaoertai Flexible Substation in China
connects the Alibaba data center with a photovoltaic power
plant. Then, it constitutes an AC-DC distribution network
containing the "source-net-load" elements. The total
generating power of photovoltaic power stations is 2.5MW.
After boosted by the BOOST circuit (with MPPT mode), the
voltage of the photovoltaic power station becomes 750V.
The rear stage is a full-bridge DC transformer. After the
voltage boosted to ±10kV, the power is transmitted to the
flexible substation with a total load of 2.5MW (as shown in
Fig. 1.).
XIAO ERTAI
Flexible Substation DC Super
DC capacitor
Photovoltaic dc
booster station 750V/DC
2.5MW Load
2.5MW DC
0.75kV/DC ±10kV/DC DC
concentrating
solar power DC DC
AC DC
DC
AC
systems DC DC
380V/
110kV-AC-Substation PET AC
10kV side
Fig. 1. General structure of the system
A. HVDC Flexible Transmission Valve
The HVDC Flexible transmission valve integrates
multiple equipment functions such as DC circuit breakers,
AC/DC converters, transformers and reactive power
compensation devices. It has realized the "all-in-one"
distribution network equipment, which has broken through
the key technical problems such as the modular design of
power electronic transformers, the new topology of FACTS,
and the integrated control of "source-net-load". Moreover, it
has realized the “source-net-load” intelligent interaction,
providing new technical means for power customers to
provide high-quality power and high-efficiency consumption
of new energy. Compared with the prior art, the flexible
substation improves the performance of the DC distribution
equipment. DC capacitor configuration is reduced by 95%
and energy density is increased by 200%. [3]
As shown in Figure 2, the core equipment of the flexible
substation is power electronic transformer (PET). The salient
feature of PET is a multi-port integrated design with four
ports of 10 kV AC/5 M V·A, ±10 kV DC/5 MW, 750 V
DC/5 M W, and 380 V AC/2.5 M V·A. The bidirectional
flow of energy between ports enables flexible control of the
power flow. The multifunctional power electronic
transformer can be functionally divided into a clamping
double sub-module (CDSM), isolation DC/DC, output
DC/AC and DC/DC convertor. Among them, the CDSM has
a locking clamp capability. The DC side directly connects to
the ±10 kV DC network, which enables fast cut-off of the
DC voltage fault current and eliminates the DC circuit
breaker. DC/DC converters have series input and parallel
output. The high-frequency transformer is a four-winding
transformer, which realizes a three-phase voltage shared core
and eliminates the double-frequency fluctuations generated
by the AC/DC conversion. Compared with the traditional
MMC topology, this will reduce the DC terminal capacitance
and thus reduce the overall size and cost of the device. [4]
+10kV
DC
To Photovoltaic plant
+375V
DC
To Super
capacitor
A
transformer is used to convert the DC voltage, and finally the
required AC voltage can be acquired from the DC/ AC
inverter. This kind of PET structure has many times of
transformation and complex structure, but its good control
characteristics can make PET achieve more functions and
wider application range. [6] Four-stage-I PET generally
includes input AC/AC converter, high-frequency
transformer, output AC/DC converter and output DC/AC
converter. Four-stage- II PET generally includes input
AC/DC converter, input DC/AC converter, high frequency
transformer and output AC/AC converter. Compared with
the four-stage -I topology, the four-stage- II topology sets
AC/AC converter on the low voltage side of the high-
frequency transformer. Five-stage PET circuit generally
includes input AC/DC converter, high frequency isolation
DC/DC converter and output DC/AC converter. Among
them, high frequency isolation DC/DC converter is generally
composed of high voltage DC/AC converter, high frequency
transformer and low voltage AC/DC converter. Due to the
lack of direct AC/AC converter, the filter circuit is simple
and has a variety of AC and DC ports. MMC topology
requires less switching devices and high-frequency
transformers than CHB PET topology, and can have high-
voltage DC ports, which can achieve richer access and
interconnection functions. [5]
Xiaoertai, Zhang Bei, China flexible substation with four
ports has various functions, so three-stage PET can be
chosen. The DC port of PET can be directly connected to
photovoltaic, wind power, energy storage and other
intermediate DC links, thus eliminating the front-end grid-

B 10kV AC
A
B
C
380V
connected inverter equipment in these devices. Xiaoertai,
C
AC
Zhang Bei, China flexible substation flexible substations can
To Super
capacitor
-375V
flexibly access distributed energy such as photovoltaic and
DC

wind power as well as EV charger and energy storage

-10kV
DC
To Photovoltaic plant
Fig. 2. Structure of Power Electric Transformer
B. How to Choose Appropriate PET
The Power Electric Transformer (PET), also known as
Solid-State Transformer (SST), or Smart Transformer (ST),
combines power electronic conversion technology with high-
frequency power conversion technology, and has the
functions of electrical isolation, voltage grade
transformation, energy transmission, AC/DC transformation,
as well as power factor adjustment and harmonic
suppression. [5]
According to the topological structure, PET can be
divided into AC/AC single-stage PET, two-stage PET, three-
stage PET, four-stage PET and five-stage PET. AC/AC
single-stage PET circuit has simple topology, high
conversion efficiency, and can transmit power in two
directions. However, its single function cannot meet the
needs of flexible substation. Two-stage PET is inferior to
single-stage PET in terms of simplified structure and three-
stage PET in terms of controllability, so two-stage PET is not
suitable for PET topology. The working principle of three-
stage PET structure is as follows: the AC voltage of mains
frequency becomes DC after being rectified by AC/DC
converter, then the DC/DC converter with a high-frequency
equipment at its low-voltage side of 750V. The PET
currently in service is equipped with a super capacitor bank
on the DC side to realize the uninterrupted power supply.
When the high-voltage side fails, the energy storage device
can supply power to the inverter, ensuring the uninterrupted
power supply to the load, and at the same time providing
time for the high-voltage side to remove the fault. PET with
energy storage device provides the possibility of flexible
substation integrating many functions.
C. DC/AC Converter
In order to realize the power supply to the AC load,
DC/AC converters are required for the downstream stage of
VSC-HVDC transmission. The structure DC/AC device
designed for HVDC flexible transmission adopts a four
three-phase inverter parallel and z-type grounding
transformer structure (as shown in Figure 4). The above
enable it to have PWM rectification, on-grid/off-grid
function. In order to suppress the output voltage imbalance
and output voltage distortion caused by unbalanced loads and
nonlinear loads under off-grid conditions, an output voltage
imbalance control strategy is proposed that considers voltage
harmonic compensation to ensure the power quality of
equipment. Moreover, an AC short-circuit fault detection
method based on a fuzzy controller is proposed. In the event
of a short-circuit fault in the power system, an active current
limiting control to ensure uninterrupted power supply is
performed to the equipment and improve the reliability of the
equipment's power supply. [7]
 + ioA
L series
Cd a ioB
Udc b
c ioC
- C iN
DC/AC
T
2 omitted
DC/AC
L
Cd a parallel
b 1
c n
C 3
DC/AC
Fig. 3. Topology of DC/AC converter
III. ON MULTI-TERMINAL HIGH VOLTAGE DC
TRANSMISSION SYSTEM
The flexible substation is the deep integration of power
electronics technology and power distribution technology.
The flexible substation realizes accurate and real-time
control of power grid active power, reactive power, and
voltage. Through the multiplexing of the converter modules,
the flexible substation achieves the transformation of AC and
DC in different forms and voltage levels and meets the
requirements of having efficient and flexible connection of
different forms of new energy and multiple loads. However,
the project is a dual-port DC transmission system-one port is
the PV station, another is the load center. For new energy
generation such as wind power and solar energy, it has high
requirements for site selection, power distribution, and
remoteness from load centers. For a data center similar to
Zhang Bei Alibaba, which has the characteristics of great
energy consumption and diverse load types. Because the
local power grid is so weak that it cannot provide efficient
and high-quality power supply. Therefore, it is necessary to
start from the power plant interconnection, complementation
and other aspects to form a multi-port input. Then, it could
achieve large-capacity and long-distance transmission of
energy and improved power stability. On the one hand, it
solves the problem of the absorption of new energy
generation; on the other hand, it solves the problem of island
power supply.
The multi-terminal high voltage DC transmission (VSC-
MTDC) system refers to a DC transmission system
consisting of three or more voltage source-based converter
stations and a common DC bus. [8] As shown in Fig. 4,
different structures show its distinctive feature is the
realization of multi-supply power supply and multi-load
power consumption, which allows new energy generation to
be more flexibly regulated. Therefore, the load gets a more
stable and reliable power supply. [9] The VSC-MTDC system
inherits the advantages of two-terminal HVDC flexible
transmission, namely, the small occupied area, low harmonic
content, and the active and reactive decoupling control.
Hence, the VSC-MTDC helps to connect distributed new
energy and island-type power supply.
uoA A 1 2 3
uoB B n i
uoC C
N 1 2
parallel 3
MTDC And i n
series
system structure 1 2 3
n i
2
i 
Fig. 4. VSC-MTDC system structure
Renewable energy resources are rich in China, and the
variety is complete. But the renewable energy and load
centers are scattered, at the same time, renewable energy has
the characteristics of volatility and intermittence. Thus, in
order to promote the efficient development and utilization of
renewable clean energy, ensure reliable power supply,
effectively solve the problem of new energy safely connected
to grid, flexible collected and difficult to send out, VSC-
MTDC technology application is necessary.
To solve the above problems, we should adjust measures
to local conditions, build sending port in renewable energy
sufficient region to send out the local energy sources; set up
energy storage port near the load, in order to ensure the
stable power supply to the load, we can store the energy at
the trough of power consumption, and deliver energy at the
peak; set up substation at load side provides the high quality
of power supply for the load.
IV. CONCLUSION
Solar photovoltaic power generation has a natural DC
property so it can be directly changed and transmitted to the
load to realize the efficient consumption of new energy using
VSC-HVDC technology. On the load side, the multiplexed
flexible flow valve can efficiently and controllably distribute
power for AC and DC loads. Zhang Bei Xiaoertai Alibaba
Flexible Substation has realized two new energy
consumption methods: local consumption and grid
connection. The use of multi-port flexible HVDC
transmission technology can increase the power supply
stability of the system, which provides efficient and high-
quality electric energy for important loads, and also solves
the problem of new energy consumption.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China through Project 51777002.
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