Maritime Link

The First Bipolar VSC HVDC with Overhead Line

O. Vestergaard P. Lundberg
HVDC Lead Engineer Product Manager HVDC Light
ABB HVDC ABB HVDC
Ludvika, Sweden Ludvika, Sweden

Abstract - The Maritime Link (ML) is the first bipolar VSC

HVDC in the world with DC overhead line and DC cable.
The paper addresses some interesting studies which are
performed during design phase. First, it is demonstrated the
capabilities of VSC HVDC including sharing spinning
reserve between two AC grids interconnected with HVDC
link and avoiding load shedding under critical network
conditions and contingency.
Also, considering the evolution of VSC HVDC technology,
the cost-effective DC fault clearing capability becomes more
robust due to less switches operating involved when clearing
a DC fault, and excellent performance is demonstrated by
the site recording.
Figure 1 - Location of Maritime
Keywords—VSC HVDC, bipolar, renewables, spinning
reserve, emergency control, frequency control, DC OHL, DC In order to overcome different geographic barriers, the
fault handling transmission circuits of the DC interconnection are composed
of both overhead lines and DC cables, as shown in in details in
I. INTRODUCTION Figure 2 below:
• 142 km overhead line connecting to Bottom Brook
Station to the sea;
The Maritime Link (ML) is the first bipolar VSC HVDC [1] • 170 km submarine cable;
with overhead line in the world. The key system parameters are: • 46 km overhead line connecting to Woodbine Station,
2 x 250 MW, ±200 kVdc. The HVDC transmission system to the sea.
connects the 230 kV a.c. systems at Bottom Brook Converter There is also 1 km land cable near Woodbine station when
Station in Newfoundland (NL) and the 345 kV a.c. system at crossing an overhead ac line.
Woodbine Converter Station in Nova Scotia (NS). The stations are grounded by shore line electrodes via electrode
It enables renewable electricity generated in Newfoundland and lines of 47 km and 28 km, respectively.
Labrador to be transmitted to the North American grid in Nova The complexity of such DC link – made of many segments of
Scotia, with the possibility to handle reverse power transfer different type - poses challenges to DC line protection.
when necessary.
The stabilizing features of ABB’s latest HVDC Light ® VSC
based technology will contribute to Canada’s emission-
reduction efforts. The location of Maritime project is shown in
Figure 1.

Figure 2 - Maritime Bipolar HVDC transmission system

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The DC link was energized on December 8, 2017; it was put
into operation after commissioning, system test and trial
operation following the planned schedule.
The purpose of this paper is to share some of design phase study
experiences as well as commissioning site test experiences:
a) in Chapter II the preformed different system
simulation studies [2] are described;
b) in Chapter III and IV, different commissioning tests
are discussed; in particular, some tests which demonstrate
the HVDC system key performance
of HVDC line can be shared with the other AC network
connected to the other side of HVDC link.
As a final verification, the frequency study was performed
aiming to develop additional controllers for enhancing the
operation of the interconnected systems. The HVDC can be
used to support the frequency of a disturbed power system by
automatically adjusting the power taken from the other system
connected with HVDC link.

II. SYSTEM STUDIES

With the increased integration of renewable energy, electrical

networks are facing conditions of reduced spinning reserve.
Also, due to water and wind power resources being seasonally
dependent, many different load flow and network scenarios
may have to be considered during studies.
VSC HVDC can support grid functionalities, and
comprehensive set of studies must be performed during the
design phase, covering from standard dynamic performance
study to specific study such as multi-infeed study as well as
serial studies related to system stability
Performance of such studies is based on realistic network data
received from customer, considering critical network
conditions. On Woodbine station side, the short circuit power
ratio (SCR) of AC network (NS) is in the range of 4.9~6.5. On
Bottom Brook station side, the connected AC network (NL) is
relatively weak with SCR below 3.
As first step, load flow and stability study were performed. By
simulating different faults and contingences in time domain, for
example, system instability was identified under a particular
contingency and one specific network condition. The instability
scenario is illustrated by Figure 3 with blue curves. In details:
1) after a disturbance, one oscillating with frequency
around 6 Hz was excited,
2) following that, another oscillating with frequency
around 10 Hz was excited and without any tendency of Figure 3 - Effect of EPC under critical AC network conditions, with
reducing oscillating amplitude, which can be seen in both (green) and without (blue) EPC
voltage (refer to plot 2) and frequency (refer to plot 3). Plot 1: Active power of HVDC link
3) the speed deviation from synchronizing speed of a Plot 2: voltage at common coupling point of involved AC network
generator in the involved AC network is shown in plot 3. Plot 3: Frequency of involved AC network
4) plot 4 and plot 1 show respectively the power Plot 4: Speed deviation of one generator in the involved AC
transferred via one AC line and the power transferred in network
Plot 5: Active power transferred over one AC line
HVDC with only dispatched power.
Subsequently, an emergency power control (EPC) study was
performed to explore the feasibility of enhancing the stability III. EPC AND FREQUENCY CONTROL
of AC system with HVDC converter station active power COMMISIONING TESTS
modulation. The instability cases identified during the stability
study were further investigated with enhanced HVDC control.
During the commissioning, many staged tests have been
The improved stability was achieved with suitable emergency
performed to verify the expected performances.
power control as shown in Figure 3 with green curves. The
This chapter presents interesting results from EPC and
transferred active power of 325 MW from NS to NL was forced
frequency control tests.
to reduce to near zero by EPC, which made the generator stay
As addressed in previous section, the HVDC link can enhance
in near synchronized speed, refer to plot 4. As a result, the
the overall system stability and performance if the right control
stabilized voltage and frequency were achieved in NS.
strategies such as EPC or frequency control are in place.
It should be noted that this sudden active power reduction gave
Figure 4 shows the step response to active power order change.
significantly impact to NL since it is a weak AC network.
It can be observed that the step response is extremely fast and
However, due to sufficient spinning reserve with hydro power
duration is about one fundamental frequency cycle, refer to plot
generators, the AC network in NL was also maintaining stable
3 blue and green curves for reference and response,
with slightly reduction of frequency. This example also shows
respectively. Expected stable behavior can be also observed
that the spinning reserve in AC network connected to one side
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from the DC pole voltage (refer to plot 1) and DC pole current • The Pre-insertion High Speed Switch is opened to
(refer to plot 2). Plot 4 shows the three phase AC voltage at the prepare for the next energization
point of common coupling. • Circulation fault current through smoothing reactor
decays
• NBS (Neutral Bus Switch) opens to break residual
fault current
• Wait to allow the arc to fully extinguish (deionization
time)
• Close NBS
• Close AC breaker
• Close the Pre-insertion High Speed Switch when
inrush current has decayed
• Deblock the converter pole
• Resume power to pre-fault level.

The DC Overhead Line Fault Clearing Sequence is initiated as

a protection action by the DC line fault protection in either of
the two stations.
To clear the DC over headline fault there will be only one
automatic restart attempt, at the same DC voltage as before the
fault. If the automatic restart attempt fails, then the pole will be
tripped and left in a state prepared for one manual restart
attempt, at a voltage value between 80 – 100% chosen by the
operator. If the manual restart attempt fails, then the DC side
will be automatically isolated by opening the DC side
disconnector and the converter pole will be left in a state
prepared to be manually restarted in STATCOM mode.
As the restart attempt may causes significant power bumps,
Figure 1 - Site recorded active power step response unless the other pole is able to compensate the temporary power
Plot 1: DC pole voltage loss in the faulty pole, the operator has the possibility to
Plot 2: DC pole current disable/enable the automatic restart attempt.
Plot 3: Active power reference (blue) and response (green) A dedicated set of commissioning test was planned and
Plot 4: three phase voltages are the point of common coupling conducted to check the behavior of the system at DC line to
ground short circuit fault. The site recorded testing result is
IV. MANAGEMENT OF DC FAULTS AND RELEVANT presented in Figure 6. As can be seen, the major fault current
COMMISIONING TESTS (refer to plot 2) was extinguished by opening the AC breaker
(refer to plot 5 signal ACBUS CB1 OPEN), whereas the small
Taking into account the topology of the Maritime HVDC link residual fault current was eliminated by opening the neutral bus
technology, a DC fault clearing capability becomes a key factor switch (NBS) (refer to signal NBS_OPEN_ORD in plot 5).
to further improve the system performances and the reliability Although the deionization time was set to relatively long, 300
and availability of the interconnection. ms, the converter resumed the operation after about 700 ms
For this, dedicated studied have been performed, with the aim (refer to signal DEBLOCK in plot 5).
to get benefit of the DC interrupter installed on the DC section Comparing with earlier installed VSC HVDC project [1],
of the converter station, as per standard architecture of a bipolar significant reduction of operating switches involved when
scheme (see Figure 5) clearing a DC fault is realized thanks to the evolution of VSC
HVDC technology. Figure 6 shows that without additional
equipment, excellent performance is achieved during a DC line
fault disturbance. It may be noted that this cost-effective DC
fault clear solution is possible also thanks to inbuilt diode surge
current capability in ABB valve.
It may be worth of noting that oscillation was excited in the DC
voltage at the beginning of the DC fault (refer to plot 1 in Figure
6), which was due to the inductance in the line and capacitance
in the cable; its frequency might change depending on the fault
Figure 2 - Overall DC link scheme, with indication of important DC location.
interrupter in DC section
The sequence used to clear the fault is indicated at high level
below:
• Ground fault/flashover on DC line
• Protections detect the fault
• The converter pole is blocked
• The AC breaker is tripped to isolate and stop feeding
the fault current from the AC network
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 V. CONCLUSION

A brief introduction is dedicated to Maritime project, which is

the first bipolar VSC HVDC with overhead line in the world.
The paper has presented different functions of VSC HVDC
which enhance the connected AC grid stability. By examples, it
demonstrates the capabilities of VSC HVDC including sharing
spinning reserve between two AC grids interconnected with
HVDC link.
The paper also presents site recorded testing results which
shows the fast active power change capability of designed VSC
HVDC.
Also, DC fault clearing capability is shown – based on a robust
electromechanical solution – and its excellent performance is
demonstrated by the site recording.

Figure 4 – Aerial photo of Bottom Broke site, Maritime Link

Figure 3 - Site recorded DC line fault

Plot 1: DC pole voltage
Plot 2: DC pole current
Plot 3: three phase voltages are the point of common coupling
Plot 4: three phase currents measured at the primary side of
transformer
Plot 5: converter deblock indication (blue); AC breaker open
indication (green); Neutral bus switch open order (red)
REFERENCES
[1] Y. Jiang-Häfner, P. Lundberg, “VSC HVDC Transmission
Supporting Variable Electricity Generation”, CIGRE 2016
[2] T. G. Magg, M. Manchen, E. Krige, E. Kandjii, R. Pålsson, J.
Wasborg, “Caprivi Link HVDC Interconnector: Comparison
between energized system testing and real-time simulator testing”

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Authorized licensed use limited to: Universidad de los Andes. Downloaded on May 23,2020 at 23:24:13 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.