Laboratory Demonstration of a Multiterminal VSC-HVDC Power Grid

Abstract

This paper presents the design, development, con- trol and supervision of a hardware-based laboratory Multi- Terminal-Direct-Current (MTDC) test-bed. This work is a part of the TWENTIES (Transmission system operation with large penetration of Wind and other renewable Electricity sources in Networks by means of innovative Tools and Integrated Energy Solutions) DEMO 3 European project which aims to demonstrate the feasibility of a DC grid through experimental tests. This is a hardware-in-the-loop DC system test-bed with simulated AC systems in real time simulation; the DC cables and some converters are actual, at laboratory scale. The laboratory scale test-bed is homothetic to a full scale high voltage direct current (HVDC) system: electrical elements are the same in per unit. The test-bed is supervised by a Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) system based on PcVue. Primary control based droop control method to provide DC grid power balance and coordinated control methods to dispatch power as scheduled by transmission system operator (TSO) are implemented. Since primary control acts as converter level by using local measure- ments, a coordinated control is proposed to manage the DC grid power flow. The implemented system is innovative and achievable for real-time, real-world MTDC-HVDC grid applications.