AORC Technical meeting 2014

C4-1102
http : //www.cigre.org

HVDC Connection for Isolated Island

Masashi Osada Lars Weimers Ines Romeo

ABB K.K. ABB AB, HVDC ABB AB, HVDC
Japan Sweden Sweden
masashi.osada@jp.abb.com

SUMMARY

Renewable Energy usually locates the isolated area from where the main consumers are. The area
where the renewable energy is surplus is generally connected with weak transmission lines or even
isolated system such as island. The rich wind energy sources locate at the northern part in Japan, on
Hokkaido or the islands on the Japan Sea. The isolated island has diesel engine generator to meet the
little demand of its island. The fuel supply during the storm is challenging, and the engine generates
more greenhouse gases than the main land. There is no transmission line between these islands and
Japan main land, so they can’t introduce the wind power station at the island though they have rich
resources. Once the transmission to the main land will be available, the construction of wind turbines
will contribute the local economy. In addition they can utilize the renewable energy and reduce the
CO2 gas. The maintenance work load will decrease and the grid reliability will increase compare to
the diesel engine generators. The AC submarine cable cannot realize the connection due to the long
distance and grid stability. The High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) can realize the connection.
There are several points to consider when we introduce the HVDC system. The first issue is the fault
clearance period and the transient stability. The second point is the disturbance of the grid during the
fault. It may impact to the AC grid stability if the disturbance is big or the restarting of HVDC
transmission is sharp. We conducted the computer simulation with using precise model of HVDC
converters and control system, then we clarified that the disturbance is acceptable at the grid of the
main land.
The third point is the grid reliability and availability. The multiple diesel engine generator sets are
installed as the view point of the redundancy. The HVDC connection should have better reliability.
The fourth point is the efficiency. The loss of power of the whole HVDC system will be evaluated.
This study is conducted to clarify those points. We assumed the reliability based on our experiences
then calculated the total system availability. The result is well acceptable compared with the engine
generation.

KEYWORDS

Renewable Energy Source – HVDC – High Voltage Direct Current - Wind – Transient Stability

masashi.osada@jp.abb.com
1. Introduction
This study has been conducted as the feasibility study to remove the diesel engine
generator from the isolated island replace with the HVDC submarine cable connection.
There needs the confirmation for the supply reliability, transient stability to replace with
the HVDC connection.
Once the AC transmission lines have faults such as thunder, the transmission of power
should resume automatically just after the removal of the fault. HVDC converter will
detect the fault and stop the converters automatically, then restart the operation
according to the starting up sequence.
The condition of this study assumes the replacement of 30 MW diesel engines with
HVDC system.
Figure 1 show the potential wind power resource in Japan.

Figure 1. Wind power potential source in Japan [4]

2. The performance in the island network
We have performed dynamic studies by simulating 3 phase short circuits at the converter station bus
bars with different durations and remaining voltages, with and without local generation on the island.
50 km sub-marine cable +
20 km land cable

Total 32MVA
Diesel Engine ~
Island side Japan main land side
66 kV/60 Hz 154 kV/50 Hz

Figure 2. System configurations for the study.

.Disconnection of major generating unit on the Island has also been investigated. No operation of
existing protections has been assumed. 2 of independent 60 MW ± 80 kV HVDC Light systems will

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be installed with the possibility of local generation A simplified schematic model of the system is
shown in Figure 2 and 3.

Figure 3. VSC type of HVDC converter station model for the simulation

The following cases have been studied:

1. 3 phase Line to Ground (LG) fault at the Island with/without local generation, duration of
fault is 150 ms, 0% and 50% remaining voltage
2. 3 phase LG fault at the Island with/without local generation, duration of fault is 300 ms, 0%,
50% and 80% remaining voltage
3. 3 phase LG fault at the Island with/without local generation, duration of fault is 600 ms, 50%
and 80% remaining voltage
4. 3 phase LG fault at the main land, duration 150 ms, 0% and 50% remaining voltage
5. 3 phase LG fault at the main land, duration of fault is 300 ms, 0%, 50% and 80% remaining
voltage
6. 3 phase LG fault at the main land, duration of fault is 600 ms, 50% and 80% remaining
voltage

A model for the HVDC Light developed by ABB has been used for this study (ABB HVDC Light
Detailed system simulation model for PSS/E version 1.1.7.)
This model represents all its components, as well as all the relevant control functions.

Figure 4 to show one of the simulation results. The case is the Fault happens at the main land bus, 0%
remaining voltage and 300ms fault duration. The graphs present the AC voltage at both sides of the
transmission, the active and reactive power at the main land and the active and reactive power at the
Island. Graphics of some disturbances are presented below to illustrate the performance of the link.

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 Figure 4: 3-phase LG fault at the Main land converter station buses. Local generation in
service.
[Left] AC Voltage at Island (Line) and the main land (dot).
[Mid] Active (Line) and reactive (dot) power at the main land.
[Right] AC Current at the both ends Active (Line) and reactive (dot) power at the
Island

The conclusion from the simulations is that the system is stable and recovers within 200 ms after the
disturbance. The results show that the HVDC systems stabilize without problems after the fault
clearance and are smoothly damped in a short time (2-3 seconds). All the simulated cases are stable.
The HVDC has shown a fast recovery response to reach again pre-contingency conditions. Observed
recovery times are less than 1 second for the worst fault cases. No blocking time has been observed
after the clearance.
The HVDC link has been operated in AC voltage control mode. When the HVDC is working in AC
voltage control the link provides reactive power in order to support the voltage. Results have shown
that this results in a better voltage recovery and higher remaining voltages during the fault.
The DC voltage and DC current have a fast recovery capability. The recovery times are in between 0
and 50 ms depending on the fault cases.
Getting these fast recovery times, sometimes, may cause over-modulation in the HVDC. The reactive
power requirements are high to get the desired voltage values and the HVDC may reach its capability
limits. Even though this reactive power contribution might be transiently limited in some cases, the
post fault AC recovery voltage is not reduced.
Due to the low existing generation compared to the load in SADO, the simulations have been
performed in passive net operation. With this mode the HVDC has the ability to control power and
frequency in the island. It compensates for power unbalances providing the required amount of active
and/or reactive power. In this way the link will control the frequency in the system to avoid
oscillations and keep it within the desired limits.
This regulation method is much faster than the existing control for the generators. In case of a
variation in load or generation the HVDC would be faster than the generators changing its active or
reactive power output. That is one of the reasons why the generation does not change so fast in the
simulations after a disturbance.
In order to test this power and frequency control some simulations with load or generation unbalances
have been run. The results show that the HVDC compensates rapidly these power variations adapting
its active and/or reactive power to the requirements. It also keeps the frequency within the desired
values.

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3. System Availability study
The availability for the new HVDC connection should not be lower than for the present engine
generator. By having 2 or 3 independent systems installed a very high availability will be achieved. In
Table 1 below the availability for certain power levels and different configurations are shown.
Estimated forced energy unavailability is calculated by a statistical method using the likelihood for a
failure for each component of the plant and the time to repair/replace this component as input. A
typical outage time to replace main circuit equipment is in the range of 8-10 hours if spares are
available at site. Other equipment, controls, auxiliary units, etc., requires significantly shorter stops.
The calculations are based on the below assumptions which have been chosen conservative since no
specific requirement is known:
 98.5 % availability for 2 converter stations
 1 fault every 10 year/100km for a pair of cables with a repair time of 2 weeks.
The above assumptions gives an unavailability for one 60 MW system (stations and cables) of 1.69 %.
The unavailability for 60 MW, 120 MW and 180 MW at different configurations are shown in table 1
below.
Table 1 Unavailability for certain power levels and different configurations
Systems in operation Received power
60 MW 120 MW 180 MW
1 x 60 MW 1.69178% - -
2 x 60 MW 0.02862% 1.69178% -
3 x 60 MW 0.00048% 0.08490% 1.69178%

With 3 systems parallel in operation the availability for 60 MW supply capacity will be 99.99952 %
and for 120 MW it will be 99.9151 %

4. Conclusions
The HVDC Light converters have black start capability and excellent performance at disturbances in
the connecting AC networks. The system recovers fully within 200 ms after different type of faults on
both the main land and the island.
Each 60 MW system has a reactive power capability from 20 MVAr (cos=0.95) absorption to 20
MVAr generation available at each station, conditional on the AC system voltage level. Thanks to this
reactive power supply capability the voltage stability is improved at both ends.
The HVDC system can replace with the engine generator in terms of reliability and availability of
power supply. Also it will recover rapidly in case of fault happens. HVDC converter station also
provide the flexibility in case the disturbance from the renewal power sources such as the wind power.
It quickly change the power flow and stabilize the frequency and system voltage during the
disturbance by the wind.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
[1] V. F. Lescale, P. Holmberg et.al. “Paralleling offshore wind farm HVDC ties on offshore side”,
C1-107, CIGRE 2012.
[2] Lars Stendius, et.al. “Interconnection of Greek islands with dispersed generation via HVDC Light”,
CIGRE 2004
[3] Manitoba Hydro International, “Report on Two Generation Expansion Alternatives for the island
Interconnected Electrical System”, January 2012
[4] Japan Wind Power Association, “ Renewable Energy White Paper – Wind edition” (Japanese)
http://jwpa.jp/pdf/hakusyo2013.pdf April 2013