Dynamic Modeling of a VSC-HVDC Converter
Markus Imhof, Student Member, IEEE, Göran Andersson, Fellow, IEEE
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, ETH Zürich
Email: {imhof, andersson}@eeh.ee.ethz.ch
Abstract—The aim of this paper is to present a nonlinear
dynamic model for Voltage Source Converter-based HVDC
(VSC-HVDC) links that can be used for dynamic studies. It
includes the main physical elements and is controlled by PI
controllers with antiwindup. A linear control model is derived
for efficient tuning of the controllers of the nonlinear dynamic
model. The nonlinear dynamic model is then tuned according to
the performance of an ABB HVDC Light model.
Index Terms—Converters, HVDC transmission, Power system
dynamics, Power system modeling, Pulse width modulation con-
verters, Reactive power control, Voltage control, VSC-HVDC,
I. I NTRODUCTION
In the previous decade, the infeed of Renewable Energy
Sources (RES) such as wind and photovoltaic has increased
[1]. A further increase is expected; this increase will put
additional stress on the already heavily loaded power systems.
Power electronic controlled devices such as Flexible AC Trans-
mission Systems (FACTS) and High Voltage DC (HVDC)
links can play an important role in controlling and stabilizing
the power system. With a higher penetration of RES it is
assumed that power oscillations will increase as conventional
power plants are decommissioned, leading to a reduction of
inertia. Power electronic devices may be able to mitigate this
issue, as they have the ability to react on electromechanical
transients. One option is to install HVDC links for power
system control, for instance, for transient stability control or
for power oscillation damping as in [2]. The main purpose
of HVDC links still is power transfer over long distances or
across seas.
Voltage Source Converter-based HVDC (VSC-HVDC) tech-
nology has several advantages over Current Source Converter-
based HVDC (CSC-HVDC) technology including independent
control of active and reactive power. Further VSC-HVDC
can be connected to weak networks, and the direction of
power flow can be reversed much faster [3], [4]. This makes
VSC-HVDC transmission an attractive solution for connecting
more RES to the network, as the controllability is increased
and the system operating costs decreased [5].
For dynamic studies it is important to have a suitable
VSC-HVDC model. Detailed models where all switching
actions are modeled have a high computational effort and
are not well-suited for large power systems studies. When
reducing the complexity of the model we should be careful
not to neglect the physical behavior of the VSC-HVDC link.
Dynamic models of VSC-HVDC converters are developed
in [6], [7] and [8]. These models differ in complexity and
accuracy. However, how the tuning for the controllers of the
converters was done has not been addressed.
This paper presents a modified dynamic VSC-HVDC model
of [6] and [7] which can be used for dynamic power systems
978-1-4799-3254-2/13/$31.00 2013
c IEEE
studies. A VSC-HVDC two-level converter is modeled in the
dq0 frame representation which is compliant with existing
dynamic AC models such as generators and FACTS devices.
The VSC-HVDC model includes the dynamics of the physical
elements such as the AC phase reactor, the DC converter
capacitance and the DC cable dynamics as well as the dy-
namics of the underlying converter control. Not only is the
physical system modeled, also the tuning of the cascaded PI-
controllers is presented, using a linearized control model. This
works very well for the active power. However for the reactive
power, the linearized control model has its limit. We should
investigate in future work how with nonlinear controller tuning
the performance of the controller model can be improved. The
model is then compared with the performance of an ABB
VSC-HVDC light model [9].
This paper is structured as follows: Section II introduces the
physical modeling of the VSC-HVDC link. Section III presents
the control structure of the rectifier and inverter and Section
IV the tuning of the rectifier and inverter controller with
a linearized control model. Section V shows the validation
results of the proposed VSC-HVDC model with the ABB
HVDC light model and Section VI concludes the paper.
II. VSC-HVDC P HYSICAL M ODEL
The variable representation used for this model is a complex
Phasor representation in the dq0 frame and are denoted by un-
derlined variables, e.g. i1 = id1 + jiq1 . The dq0 Transformation,
or Park’s Transformation, is manly used in the derivation of
models of electrical machines [10]. The dq0 frame rotates with
the system frequency and is also known as a rotating reference
frame. It is well suited for electro-mechanical transient studies
and gives a well representation of the converter averaged
model [10], [11].
The VSC-HVDC system consists of a physical part as well
as controllers for the Voltage Source Converter (VSC) con-
verters. The physical model components are depicted in Fig. 1.
The VSC-HVDC link is separated into three main subsystems:
Two AC systems, two VSC converters and one DC system. A
step down transformer connects the VSC-HVDC link to the
AC grid. It converts the AC grid voltage to the needed voltage
for the VSC converter. A phase reactor connects the rectifier
(VSC 1) with the transformer. The rectifier converts the AC to
the DC voltage. A bipolar DC cable transports the power to the
inverter (VSC 2). The inverter converts the DC voltage back
to AC. The phase reactor filters the high switching harmonics
and a step up transformer adjusts the AC voltage from the
inverter to the AC grid voltage.
Most VSC based pulsewidth modulation (PWM) converters
have a cascaded control structure, consisting of an inner and
an outer control loop [12]. The inner control loop controls
 Ldc Rdc
Pac = Pdc Pac = Pdc
Idc,1 Icable Idc,2
Udc,1 Udc,2
u s,1 u t,1 u c,1 Cdc u c,2 u t,2 u s,2
i1 Cdc i2
VSC 1 VSC 2
(Rectifier) (Inverter)
Xt Xr Rr Rr Xr Xt
Cdc Icable Cdc

q
M1d M1 Ldc Rdc M2d Idc,2

Fig. 1. Physical model of the VSC-HVDC link.

the currents and the outer control loop the powers. The outer all other transformers in the AC grid the dynamics are not
control loop calculates the current references for the inner modelled. The voltage equations are
control loop. The current controllers will thereafter calculate
udt,l = Xt iql (4)
the modulation index needed for the VSC converters to keep
the desired power setpoints. Fig. 2 shows the control scheme uqs,l − uqt,l = Xt idl . (5)
of the entire VSC-HVDC link. The VSC-HVDC link can
be controlled by four external control signals. The rectifier We solved (4) and (5) for udt,l and respectively and uqt,l
controls the active power flowing over the VSC-HVDC link substituted into (2) and (3) will give us the dynamic AC
and the reactive power at the AC terminal. The inverter equations
controls the reactive power at its AC terminal and regulates Xr didl
the DC voltage. The DC voltage controller only consists of a = (Xr + Xt ) iql − Rr idl − udc,l (6)
ω dt
single control loop. Xr dil q
= − (Xr + Xt ) idl − Rr iql − uqc,l + uqs,l . (7)
ω dt
P1,ref iq1,ref Udc,2,ref
P iq1 Udc B. DC Model
controller controller controller
The DC circuit of the VSC-HVDC link consists of the
iq1 M1q Udc,2 Idc,2
P1 converter capacitance Cconverter and a bipolar DC cable. The
Rectifier Inverter cable is modeled as a π-equivalent with the elements Rdc , Ldc
Q1 Q2 and Ccable . The equivalent DC capacitance Cdc , as depicted in
id
1 M1d id
2 M2d Fig. 1, we calculate as
Q1,ref id id Q2,ref
Q1 1,ref id
1 id
2
2,ref Q2 1
controller controller controller controller Cdc = Cconverter + Ccable . (8)
2
Fig. 2. Control scheme of the VSC-HVDC link: Controller blocks with
The dynamic circuit equations of the DC side are
saturated PI controllers (white boxes), physical converter models (grey boxes), dUdc,1
measurement signals (dashed arrows) and reference values (solid arrows). Cdc = Idc,1 − Icable (9)
dt
dUdc,2
A. AC Model Cdc = Idc,2 + Icable (10)
dt
The AC part of the VSC-HVDC link consists of an ideal dIcable
step down transformer represented with the inductance Xt Ldc = Udc,1 − Udc,2 − Rdc Icable . (11)
dt
which connects the VSC-HVDC link to the AC grid. A phase
C. Converter Model
reactor, represented by Xr and Rr connects the VSC converter
with the transformer as depicted in Fig. 1. The q-axis of the The VSC converter used for this model is assumed to be a
rotating dq0 reference frame for each converter is aligned with lossless two level PWM converter. It is modelled as an aver-
the AC system voltage us,l , hence uds,l = 0. This leads to aged switched converter model. The higher harmonics of the
switching of the Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs)
us,l = juqs,l , (1) are neglected. In this paper, the 0 component is neglected and
thus only symmetric AC systems can be simulated [11]. This
where l = 1 represents the rectifier and l = 2 the inverter. We is consistent as the AC grid is as well represented in the dq
chose that the AC current il is to be directed into the converter. reference frame. The relationship between the AC and DC side
The dynamics of the current are calculated as follows: is given as
uc,l = K0 M l 2 · Udc,l , (12)
Xr didl
− Xr iql = −Rr idl − udc,l + udt,l (2) where M l = Mld + jMlq represents the modulation index of
ω dt the converter and is the control signal to control the setpoints
Xr diql of the converter. K0 is the modulation
+ Xr idl = −Rr iql − uqc,l + uqt,l , (3) √ constant and in case
ω dt of rectangular modulation is K0 = π6 [13]. We assumed that
where udc,l and uqc,l represents the voltage at the converters and the converters are lossless. Thus the power balance of the AC
and the DC side has to be fulfilled.
udt,l and uqt,l the voltage after the step down transformer. We
!
neglected the current dynamics of the transformer because for udc,l idl + uqc,l iq = Pac,l = Pdc,l = 2 · Idc,l Udc,l (13)
 1
Each converter has two control inputs. The rectifier is con- id
l Δud
l 2Udc,l
d
Mmax
trolled by M1d and M1q and the inverter by M2q and Idc2 . -
id + Mld
Unlike in [7], there is no q-current controller at the inverter l,ref PI ud 1
Σ int,l
Σ K0 × limit
side, as shown in Fig. 2. This would overdetermine the system. + Controller -
Therefore the q-part of current i2 is calculated using the power d
Mmin
equality (13). q
Mmax

III. VSC-HVDC C ONTROLLER S TRUCTURE iq1,ref + M1q

PI - + 1
×
Σ Σ Σ K0 limit
The goal of the converter control is to control the active Controller uqint,1
- + -
power P1 at the AC grid bus at the rectifier side and the q
iq1 uqs,l Mmin
reactive powers Ql at each AC grid bus. Fig. 2 shows the Δuq1
1
detailed control structure of the VSC-HVDC link. The power 2Udc,l

expressions in dq frame,
Fig. 3. Scheme of d-current controller (upper) and q-controller (lower)
Pl = uqs,l · iql , (14) illustration.

Ql = uqs,l · idl , (15)

show that Pl and Ql can be controlled independently by
setting the associate currents idl and iql . This will provide the
references for the current controllers, the inner control loop.
A. Current Controller
The inner and faster control loop controls the currents. It
receives the setpoints form the slower outer control loop as
seen in Fig. 2. It is seen in (6) and (7) that the currents
are cross-coupled because of the dq transformation. Feed-
forward decoupling terms have to be introduced to decouple
the currents.
Δud1 = iq1 (Xr + Xt ) (16)
Δuql = idl (Xr + Xt ) (17)
This leads to two independent current controllers. Fig. 3 shows
the scheme of the d-current and the q-current controllers. For
each controller, a PI controller, as depicted in Fig. 4, was
used. It includes saturation and anti-windup. The parameters
for the the d-current controller are Kp = Kp,id,l for the
gain and Ki = Ki,id,l for the integral term. For the q-
current controller the parameters Kp = Kp,iq,l give the gain
and Ki = Ki,iq,l the integral term. KA is the gain of the
integrator anti windup circuit. The PI controller calculates the
limited internal voltage uint,l . With the feed forwarded system
voltage uqs,1 , the feed forward decoupling term Δuql and the
feed forwarded DC voltage Udc,l , the modulation indices M1d
and Mlq are calculated and sent to the converter model. The
modulation indices are constrained by their physical limits
Mmin
d
≤ Mld ≤ Mmax
d
(18)
q q
Mmin ≤ M1 ≤ Mmax
q
. (19)
B. Active & Reactive Power Controller
The outer control loop of the VSC converter controls the
active and reactive power. The PI controller used for the active
power controller has the same structure as the PI controller
depicted in Fig. 4. The parameter for the gain is Kp = Kp,P,1
and for the integral term is Ki = Ki,P,1 . The PI controller
calculates the reference current iqref,1 needed for the desired
active power. The current reference is limited to,
iqmin ≤ iqref,1 ≤ iqmax , (20)
to stay within the physical boundaries.
Kp
ud
int,max
id + ud
ref,l + + 1 + int,l
Ki s limit
- -
ud
+ int,min
id KA -
l
Fig. 4. Scheme of the PI controller with saturation and anti windup.
The reactive power controller has the same PI controller
structure as the one used in Fig. 4. The parameter for the
gain is Kp = Kp,Q,l and for the integral term Ki = Ki,Q,l .
The controller calculates the reference current idref,l for each
converter side for the desired reactive power. The current
references are as limited to,
idmin ≤ idref,l ≤ idmax , (21)
to stay within the physical boundaries.
C. DC Voltage Controller
The fourth control loop is controlling the DC voltage Udc,2
at the inverter side. The DC voltage controller consists of a
single PI controller of the same structure as shown in Fig. 4.
It is a saturated PI controller with an integrator anti windup
circuit. The parameter for the gain is Kp = Kp,dc and for the
integral term Ki = Ki,dc . The PI controller calculates the DC
reference current Idc,2 to keep the DC voltage at its desired
value. The DC reference is also limited
Idc,min ≤ Idc,2 ≤ Idc,max . (22)
This ensures that the converter will operate within its limits.
IV. L INEARIZED C ONTROLLER T UNING
This section will describe how the controllers were tuned
using a linear control model. However with the linearization
we lose the nonlinearity of the saturation of the controllers. As
we will see in Section V this works very well for the active
power control loop but not for the reactive power control loop.
For each control loop, we derived a linearized transfer function
and we calculated the controller parameters using MATLAB.
A. Linearized Plant modulation indices are neglected in the linearization. The
The AC model and the converter model from Section II-A linear transfer function for the d-current controller is
and II-C are linearized at the current operating point x0 . This îdref,l (s)
results in following combined linearized AC plant Kid,l (s) =
M̂ld (s)
⎡ ⎤   d  
Xr ˆd 1
i̇ −Rr Xr + Xt îl = 2K0 M0,l d
Ûdc,l (s)
⎣ ω l
⎦= 2K0 Udc,l
Xr ˆd −(X + X ) −R îdl
ω i̇l
r t r (28)
   Kp,id,l s + Ki,id,l
+ (Xr + Xt )îql (s) − ,
−2K0Udc,0,l 0 M̂ld s
+ (23)
0 −2K0 Udc,0,l M̂ld and for the q-current controller is
  q 
0 −2K0 M0,l d ûs,l îqref,1 (s)
+ q , Kiq,1 (s) =
1 −2K0 M0,l Ûdc,l M̂1q (s)

1 q
where îdl , îql , M̂ld , M̂lq , ûqs,l and Ûdc,l denote the linearized = 2K0 M0,1 Ûdc,1 (s) + ûqs,1 (s)
2K0 Udc,1
values in the form of x̂ = x − x0 . This nomenclature will be (29)
used from now on, where x is a placeholder for x0 the steady Kp,iq,1 s + Ki,iq,1
− (Xr + Xt )îd1 (s) − .
state and x̂ the deviation from the steady state. This leads to s
the transfer function for the d-current Therefore we derived the open loop transfer function of the
îdl (s) inner control loop, as depicted in Fig. 2. For the d-axis we
Gid,l (s) = receive
M̂ld (s)
 Ki,id,l
Kp,id,l s + Kp,id,l
= −2K0 Udc,l 2K0 M0,l
d
Ûdc,l (s) lid,l (s) = Kid,l (s) · Gid,l (s) = . (30)
(24) s Xωr s + Rr Xωr
1
+ (Xr + Xt )îql (s) +
ω s + Rr
Xr By choosing the negative zero of the controller
Ki,id,l ω
and for the q-current − = −Rr
Kp,id,l Xr
îql (s)
Giq,l (s) = the negative pole of the reactor is cancelled. This leads to the
M̂lq (s) closed loop transfer function

= −2K0 Udc,l 2K0 M0,l
d
Ûdc,l (s) îdl (s) 1 1
Hid,l (s) = = = . (31)
(25) îref,l (s)
d s ωKXp,id,l
r
+1 τid s + 1
1
− (Xr + Xt )îql + ûqs,l + .
ω s
Xr
+ Rr The response from idl (s) to idref,l (s) is based on a first-order
transfer function whose rise time is given by τid . τid is a design
The DC model of Section II-B is linearized at its operating parameter and can be chosen freely. It should be sufficiently
point which leads to small for a fast current controller. Therefore the parameters
⎡ ⎤
ˆ ⎡ Pdc,1,0 ⎤⎡ ⎤ for the PI controller are
Cdc U̇ dc,1 − U2 0 −1 Ûdc,1 Xr Rr
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ Kp,id,l = , Ki,id,l = .
⎢ ˆ ⎥ ⎢ dc,1,0
0 ⎦⎢⎥ ⎥ (32)
⎢ Cdc U̇dc,2 ⎥ = ⎣
⎣ ⎦
0 1 ⎣ Ûdc,2 ⎦ ω τid
Ldc Iˆ˙cable
1 −1 −Rdc Iˆcable For the q-current controller tuning, the same design procedure
(26) is applied.
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ 1
⎤
0 Udc,1,0
⎢ 1 ⎥ˆ ⎢ ⎥ C. Linearized Active and Reactive Power Controller
⎣ ⎦ Idc,2 + ⎣ 0 ⎦ P̂dc,1 .
The transfer function of the active and reactive power
0 0 controller is derived in this section. The active power controller
from Section III-B with the plant is linearized to
The transfer function for the DC voltage is derived to
Kp,P,1 s + Ki,P,1
Ûdc,2 (s) 1 kP,1 (s) = . (33)
GUdc (s) = = . (27) s
Iˆdc,2 (s) sCdc − 1 The saturation and the anti-windup circuit are neglected in the
linearization. The linear plant model for the response of iqref,1
B. Linearized Current Controller Tuning to P1 is
In the following section the current controller from Section
P̂1 (s) 1
III-A will be linearized. However the saturation and the anti- GP,1 = = uqs,1,0 + iq1,0 ûqs,1 (s) . (34)
windup circuit of the PI controllers and the limits on the îqref,1 (s) sτiq + 1
 TABLE I
For tuning purposes, we assume that the disturbance ûqs,1 (s) D ATA OF ABB HVDC LIGHT M1 C ONVERTER
is small and can be neglected. This leads to following open
loop transfer function Base voltage 104 kV Base power 101 MVA
Pmax 102 MW Pmin −98.7 MW
Qmax 50.50 Mvar Qmin −50.50 Mvar
uqs,1,0 (Kp,P,1 s + Ki,P,1) Xr 0.1643 pu Rr 0.01 pu
lP,1 (s) = kP,1 (s) · GP,1 (s) = , (35) Xt 0.113 pu ±80 kV
s(sτiq + 1) nominal DC voltage
Cconverter 62.7 µF Ccable 0.308 µF/km
Rdc 0.0799 Ω/km Ldc 0.14 mH/km
which brings us to the closed loop transfer function
1 q TABLE II
Pˆ1 (s) τiq us,1,0 (Kp,P,1 s + Ki,P,1 ) C ALCULATED C ONTROLLER PARAMETERS
HP,1 = = . (36)
Pref (s) uq Kp,P,1 +1
s2 + s,1,0 τiq
uq Ki,P,1
s + s,1,0τiq KA 10
Kp,id,l 0.015 Ki,id,l 0.02
The active power response follows a second-order transfer Kp,iq,1 0.015 Ki,iq,1 0.02
Kp,Q,l 29.701 Ki,Q,l 5261.1
function. It can be written in standard form Kp,P,1 0.787 Ki,P,1 56.75
Kp,dc 1.038 Ki,dc 28.608
s
αζωn +1
HP,1 = 2 , (37)
Calculating the closed-loop transfer function leads to following
s
ωn + 2ζ s
ωn +1
second-order behavior
1
where ζ is the damping ratio, ωn the undamped natural Ûdc,2 (s) Cdc (sKp,dc + Ki,dc )
frequency and α is a scaling factor of the zero [14]. A HUdc (s) = = . (43)
Ûdc,ref (s) Kp,dc −1 Ki,dc
coefficient comparison gives s2 + s Cdc + Cdc

2Ki,P,1τiq uqs,1,0Ki,P,1 With the same approach as in Section IV-C, the parameters
α=   , ωn2 = (38) Kp,dc and Ki,dc can be calculated to meet a desired second-
Kp,P,1 uqs,1,0 + 1 Kp,P,1 τiq order response.
uq Kp,P,1 + 1
2ζωn = s,1,0 . (39) V. R ESULTS
τiq
The parameters calculated with the method described in
Standard quantities like the peak time tp or the overshoot Mp Section IV are simulated in the dynamic model from Section
express the transfer function and can be defined. Ref. [14] II and compared to the performance of the ABB HVDC light
gives a formula for both quantities in relation to ζ and ωn . M1 link. The ABB model is a black box model simulated with
They can be solved for ζ and ωn leading to: the original controllers. The data of the converter are shown in
Table I [15]. For tuning the current controllers, τ = 50ms for
1 π both controllers is chosen. The calculated parameters for the
ζ = − ln(Mp )  , ωn =  (40)
ln(Mp )2 + π 2 tp 1 − ζ 2 current controllers are found in Table II. For all PI controllers
in the nonlinear dynamic models, the same antiwindup gain
and substituted into (37) to solve for the PI-parameters: KA = 10 is chosen.
2ζωn τiq − 1 ωn2 τiq A. Active Power Controller
Kp,P,1 = , Ki,P,1 = . (41)
uqs,1,0 uqs,1,0 The active power controller is tuned according to the step
response of the ABB Model. The peak time of the power is
If α is large, the zero will be far removed from the poles tp = 100ms and the overshoot is Mp = 0.14. With the method
and thus the zero will have little effect on the response. The described in Section IV-C, the parameters for the controller are
effect of the zero is to increase the overshoot Mp . Ref. [14] calculated. They are shown in Table II. The zero of equation
shows that the zero has little effect if α ≥ 3. If the desired (36) has little effect because α ≥ 3. Fig. 5 shows the different
design parameters fulfill this constraint then Kp,P,1 and Ki,P,1 step responses of the ABB HVDC Light model (red solid
can be chosen according to (41). Otherwise a numeric pole curve), the dynamic nonlinear model with saturation of the
zero placement has to be performed to achieve the design controllers (solid green curve), and linearized control model
requirements. (dotted blue curve). The ABB Light model was simulated
For the reactive power controller, the same design procedure using Power Factory and the nonlinear dynamic model in
can be used with the assumption that the disturbance ûqs,l (s) MATLAB using the simulation environment developed in [16].
is zero. It is seen that the nonlinear dynamic model and the linearized
control model are very similar. The nonlinear dynamic model
D. Linearized DC Voltage Controller represents the dynamic response of the Power Factory model
The fourth control loop is comprised of the DC voltage well and the new steady state is reached after about 270 ms.
controller. The open-loop transfer function with the controller
B. Reactive Power Controller
from Section III-C and the DC plant (27) is
The reactive power controller could not be tuned analyti-
Kp,dc s + Ki,dc cally. The response of the reactive power in the ABB Power
ldc (s) = kUdc (s) · GUdc (s) = . (42)
s(sCdc − 1) Factory model does not have a second-order response (red
 80 fast response, because the limits of the controllers reach
70 saturation. For a more efficient tuning method, a nonlinear
controller tuning should be applied. This would assure us that
60
active power (MW)
the stability of the converter is guaranteed.
50 This method allows us to tune a VSC-HVDC link to a
40 desired step response. This is not only valid for two level
30 PWM converters. The switching harmonics are neglected and,
HVDC Light Model with the appropriate parameters, the behavior of a modular
20
Dynamic Model multilevel converter can be reproduced.
10
Control Model
0
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
time (s)
We acknowledge the support of swisselectric research and
ABB for the project Power System Performance Enhancement
Fig. 5. Active power step response of different VSC-HVDC models. The red by Use of Voltage Source Converter Based HVDC in the
solid curve is the response of the ABB HVDC Light model in power factory,
the green solid curve is the response of the introduced nonlinear VSC-HVDC ENTSO-E RG Continental Europe System.
model and the blue dotted line is the response of the linearized control model.
R EFERENCES
[1] REN21, “Renewables 2012 Global Status Report,” 2012. [Online].
50 Available: www.ren21.net
45 [2] A. Fuchs, M. Imhof, T. Demiray, and M. Morari, “Stabilization of large
power systems using VSC-HVDC and model predictive control,” to be
reactive power (Mvar)

40 published in IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery - Special Issue on

35
30
25
HVDC Light Model
20
Dynamic Model
15
Control Model
10
0 0.05 0.1 0.15
time (s)
Fig. 6. Reactive power step response of different VSC-HVDC models. The
red solid curve is the response of the ABB HVDC Light model in power
factory, the green solid curve is the response of the introduced nonlinear
VSC-HVDC model and the blue dotted line is the response of the linearized
control model.
solid curve), as is seen in Fig. 6. The response time is very
fast. It takes about 100 ms to reach the new steady state. This
results in limiters and saturations being activated. The linear
control model (blue dotted curve) does not have the same
response as the nonlinear dynamic model (green solid curve).
The parameters for the PI controllers were tuned heuristically.
This leads to a response of the reactive power controller
which is similar to the one of the Power Factory Model. The
steady states are reached at the same time. However the initial
response to the step is slower. Since the ABB HVDC light
model is a black box model it is unclear what kind of control
structure and limiters are used.
VI. C ONCLUSION
A dynamic nonlinear VSC-HVDC model in dq0 coordinates
was presented. A linear control model for tuning the dynamic
model was developed. It is seen in the results, that the active
power step has a second-order behavior. This allows it to
tune the active power control loop analytically. The linearized
control model and the nonlinear model have a consistent
behavior.
However, for the reactive power this is not true. The
difference between the linearized and the full dynamic model
are substantial. It could not be tuned with the analytical
method. However the analytical method gave a starting point
for the heuristic method. The mismatch is explained by the
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