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

Kp
show that Pl and Ql can be controlled independently by ud
int,max
setting the associate currents idl and iql . This will provide the id + ud
ref,l + + 1 + int,l
references for the current controllers, the inner control loop. Ki s limit
- -
A. Current Controller ud
+ int,min
The inner and faster control loop controls the currents. It id KA -
l
receives the setpoints form the slower outer control loop as
seen in Fig. 2. It is seen in (6) and (7) that the currents Fig. 4. Scheme of the PI controller with saturation and anti windup.
are cross-coupled because of the dq transformation. Feed-
forward decoupling terms have to be introduced to decouple The reactive power controller has the same PI controller
the currents. structure as the one used in Fig. 4. The parameter for the
Δud1 = iq1 (Xr + Xt ) (16) 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
Δuql = idl (Xr + Xt ) (17) converter side for the desired reactive power. The current
This leads to two independent current controllers. Fig. 3 shows references are as limited to,
the scheme of the d-current and the q-current controllers. For
each controller, a PI controller, as depicted in Fig. 4, was idmin ≤ idref,l ≤ idmax , (21)
used. It includes saturation and anti-windup. The parameters
for the the d-current controller are Kp = Kp,id,l for the to stay within the physical boundaries.
gain and Ki = Ki,id,l for the integral term. For the q-
current controller the parameters Kp = Kp,iq,l give the gain C. DC Voltage Controller
and Ki = Ki,iq,l the integral term. KA is the gain of the
integrator anti windup circuit. The PI controller calculates the The fourth control loop is controlling the DC voltage Udc,2
limited internal voltage uint,l . With the feed forwarded system at the inverter side. The DC voltage controller consists of a
voltage uqs,1 , the feed forward decoupling term Δuql and the single PI controller of the same structure as shown in Fig. 4.
It is a saturated PI controller with an integrator anti windup
feed forwarded DC voltage Udc,l , the modulation indices M1d
circuit. The parameter for the gain is Kp = Kp,dc and for the
and Mlq are calculated and sent to the converter model. The
integral term Ki = Ki,dc . The PI controller calculates the DC
modulation indices are constrained by their physical limits
reference current Idc,2 to keep the DC voltage at its desired
Mmin
d
≤ Mld ≤ Mmax
d
(18) value. The DC reference is also limited
q q
Mmin ≤ M1 ≤ Mmax
q
. (19)
Idc,min ≤ Idc,2 ≤ Idc,max . (22)
B. Active & Reactive Power Controller This ensures that the converter will operate within its limits.
The outer control loop of the VSC converter controls the
active and reactive power. The PI controller used for the active IV. L INEARIZED C ONTROLLER T UNING
power controller has the same structure as the PI controller
depicted in Fig. 4. The parameter for the gain is Kp = Kp,P,1 This section will describe how the controllers were tuned
and for the integral term is Ki = Ki,P,1 . The PI controller using a linear control model. However with the linearization
calculates the reference current iqref,1 needed for the desired we lose the nonlinearity of the saturation of the controllers. As
active power. The current reference is limited to, we will see in Section V this works very well for the active
iqmin ≤ iqref,1 ≤ iqmax , (20) power control loop but not for the reactive power control loop.
For each control loop, we derived a linearized transfer function
to stay within the physical boundaries. 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.
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solid curve), as is seen in Fig. 6. The response time is very [8] W. Yan, Z. Shu-Zhen, H. Cheng, and R. Jiang-Jun, “Dynamic Model
and Control of Voltage Source Converter Based HVDC,” in Asia-Pacific
fast. It takes about 100 ms to reach the new steady state. This Power and Energy Engineering Conference APPEEC, 2009, march
results in limiters and saturations being activated. The linear 2009, pp. 1 –5.
control model (blue dotted curve) does not have the same [9] Grid Systems - HVDC, ABB, “It’s time to connect - technical description
of HVDC light technology,” www.abb.com/hvdc, 2008.
response as the nonlinear dynamic model (green solid curve). [10] P. Kundur, Power System Stability and Control. McGraw-Hill, 1993.
The parameters for the PI controllers were tuned heuristically. [11] A. Yazdani and R. Iravani, Voltage-Source Converters in Power Systems.
This leads to a response of the reactive power controller John Wiley & Sons, 2010.
[12] M. Kazmierkowski and L. Malesani, “Current control techniques for
which is similar to the one of the Power Factory Model. The three-phase voltage-source PWM converters: a survey,” Industrial Elec-
steady states are reached at the same time. However the initial tronics, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 45, no. 5, pp. 691–703, 1998.
response to the step is slower. Since the ABB HVDC light [13] DIgSILENT Technical Documentation - PWM Converter, DIgSILENT
GmbH, 2007.
model is a black box model it is unclear what kind of control [14] G. F. Franklin, J. D. Powel, and A. Emami-Neini, Feedback Control of
structure and limiters are used. Dynamic Systems. Pearson, 2006.
[15] M. Agren, User guide, Power Factory-DIgSILENT impementation,
VI. C ONCLUSION HVDC Light Open Model Version 1.1.8, ABB, July 2009.
[16] T. H. Demiray, “Simulation of power system dynamics using dynamic
A dynamic nonlinear VSC-HVDC model in dq0 coordinates phasor models,” Ph.D. dissertation, ETH Zrich, 2008, diss. ETH No.
was presented. A linear control model for tuning the dynamic 17607.
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