Introduction: As a consequence of the European Union Renewable Energy Directive, the UK is committed to a target of more than 30% of electricity to be generated from renewable sources by 2020. The transmission reinforcements necessary to allow the EU 2020 renewable target and longer-term energy goals to be achieved in an effective and efficient manner were studied by the Electricity Networks Strategy Group (ENSG) and detailed in their report ‘Our electricity transmission network: A vision for 2020’.

Objectives:

The objective of the project is to improve understanding of the problems of Voltage Sourced Converter (VSC) HVDC integration into the existing transmission system. The project aims to make progress in three related areas:

1. Multi-terminal VSC HVDC operation;
2. AC/DCVSCHVDCinteraction–controland
3. AC/DC VSC HVDC interaction – detailed model (fast transients).

These areas have been identified as requiring to be addressed as part of the risk managed introduction of the technology onto the transmission system. The project will deliver reports on the results of studies and a documented set of models for use in National Grid’s internal system studies. The work forms an essential step in being able to implement the technology on the transmission system. 

Expected Benefits: The project is likely to increase understanding of the issues associated with application of a multi-terminal VSC HVDC system on the GB transmission system. There is a high likelihood that such studies will allow application issues to be identified, better understood and enable their mitigation to be evaluated. This is success for the project.