Multi-terminal dc grid overall control with modular multilevel converters

• Published in: Journal of Mining Institute
• Main Authors: Miguel Jiménez Carrizosa, Nikola Stankovic, Jean-Claude Vannier, Yaroslav E. Shklyarskiy, Aleksei I. Bardanov
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Russian
• Published: Saint-Petersburg Mining University 2020
• Subjects: mmc; mt-hvdc grid; local control; dc connection; power flow calculation; voltage source inverters; droop control; hierarchical control; Mining engineering. Metallurgy; TN1-997; Arctic; Russian North
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.31897/pmi.2020.3.357; https://doaj.org/article/037623b4ecb54fb2994ad189b12fced0

This paper presents a control philosophy for multiterminal DC grids, which are embedded in the main AC grid. DC transmission lines maintain higher power flow at longer distances compared with AC lines. The voltage losses are also much lower. DC power transmission is good option for Russian north. Arctic seashore regions of Russia don't have well developed electrical infrastructure therefore power line lengths are significant there. Considering above it is possible to use DC grids for supply mining enterprises in Arctic regions (offshore drilling platforms for example). Three different control layers are presented in an hierarchical way: local, primary and secondary. This whole control strategy is verified in a scaled three-nodes DC grid. In one of these nodes, a modular multilevel converter (MMC) is implemented (five sub-modules per arm). A novel model-based optimization method to control AC and circulating currents is discussed. In the remaining nodes, three-level voltage source converters (VSC) are installed. For their local controllers, a new variant for classical PI controllers are used, which allow to adapt the values of the PI parameters with respect to the measured variables. Concerning the primary control, droop control technique has been chosen. Regarding secondary level, a new power flow technique is suggested. Unbalance conditions are also verified in order to show the robustness of the whole control strategy.