The deterioration in power quality due to the increase in non linear loads has sparked a new interest in the filtering techniques used in transmission and distribution systems. Unlike passive filters, active filters are adaptable to rapidly changing source impedance and provide the necessary harmonic compensation for varying non-linear loads. This thesis models a Voltage Source Converter (VSC) based shunt active filter (SAF) to filter harmonics due to large non linear loads. SAF compensates the harmonics by injecting a compensating current which is equal in magnitude but opposite in phase to the disturbance in the system. The power circuit of this SAF consists of a three-phase VSC and the switching signals for this converter is generated by hysteresis based current modulation method. The controller uses the sinusoidal current control strategy of the generalized instantaneous p-q control theory to calculate the reference compensating current. Proposed SAF is simulated using EMTP-RV simulation package under steady state and dynamic conditions and its effectiveness in mitigating harmonics is tested. The stability and response of the SAF is also tested satisfactorily under transient load and severe AC / DC fault conditions. / UOIT

The interest in the utilization of offshore wind power is increasing significantly. Due to the shortage of in-land locations for wind farm and the wind speed offshore is potentially higher than that of onshore, which leads to a much higher power production. In this thesis a large offshore wind farm is modeled using Matlab simulation package. In the simulations active stall regulated wind turbines driving fixed speed asynchronous generators are used. Two different types of interconnections are modeled and compared, one is the Voltage Source Converter (VSC) based HVDC link and the other one uses high voltage AC (HVAC) cable interconnection. Transmission faults are simulated in each system and the transient response are examined. Three phase fault and single line to ground fault are used to compare the performance of the VSC based HVDC interconnection system and HVAC interconnection. It is found that compared to the traditional HVAC transmission, the VSC based HVDC transmission would have better performance under various system disturbances.

The motivation of this research is to carry out the control and operation of smart inverters and voltage source converters (VSC) for distributed energy resources (DERs) such as photovoltaic (PV), battery, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV). The main contribution of the research includes solving a couple of issues for smart grids by controlling and implementing multifunctions of VSC and smart inverter as well as improving the operational scheme of the microgrid. The work is mainly focused on controlling and operating of smart inverter since it promises a new technology for the future microgrid. Two major applications of the smart inverter will be investigated in this work based on the connection modes: microgrid at grid-tied mode and autonomous mode. \indent In grid-tied connection, the smart inverter and VSC are used to integrate DER such as Photovoltaic (PV) and battery to provide suitable power to the system by controlling the supplied real and reactive power. The role of a smart inverter at autonomous mode includes supplying a sufficient voltage and frequency, mitigate abnormal condition of the load as well as equally sharing the total load's power. However, the operational control of the microgrid still has a major issue on the operation of the microgrid. The dissertation is divided into two main sections which are: 1- Low-level control of a single smart Inverter. 2- High-level control of the microgrid. The first part investigates a comprehensive research for a smart inverter and VSC technology at the two major connections of the microgrid. This involves controlling and modeling single smart inverter and VSC to solve specific issues of microgrid as well as improve the operation of the system. The research provides developed features for smart inverter comparing with a conventional voltage sourced converter (VSC). The two main connections for a microgrid have been deeply investigated to analyze a better way to develop and improve the operational procedure of the microgrid as well as solve specific issues of connecting the microgrid to the system. A detailed procedure for controlling VSC and designing an optimal operation of the controller is also covered in the first part of the dissertation. This section provides an optimal operation for controlling motor drive and demonstrates issues when motor load exists at an autonomous microgrid. It also provides a solution for specific issues at operating a microgrid at autonomous mode as well as improving the structural design for the grid-tied microgrid. The solution for autonomous microgrid includes changing the operational state of the switching pattern of the smart inverter to solve the issue of a common mode voltage (CMV) that appears across the motor load. It also solves the issue of power supplying to large loads, such as induction motors. The last section of the low-level section involves an improvement of the performance and operation of the PV charging station for a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) at grid-tied mode. This section provides a novel structure and smart controller for PV charging station using three-phase hybrid boost converter topology. It also provides a form of applications of a multifunction smart inverter using PV charging station. The second part of the research is focusing on improving the performance of the microgrid by integrating several smart inverters to form a microgrid. It investigates the issue of connecting DER units with the microgrid at real applications. One of the common issues of the microgrid is the circulating current which is caused by poor reactive power sharing accuracy. When more than two DER units are connected in parallel, a microgrid is forming be generating required power for the load. When the microgrid is operated at autonomous mode, all DER units participate in generating voltage and frequency as well as share the load's power. This section provides a smart and novel controlling technique to solve the issue of unequal power sharing. The feature of the smart inverter is realized by the communication link between smart inverters and the main operator. The analysis and derivation of the problem are presented in this section. The dissertation has led to two accepted conference papers, one accepted transaction IEEE manuscript, and one submitted IET transaction manuscript. The future work aims to improve the current work by investigating the performance of the smart inverter at real applications.

In this thesis, design and implementation of a distribution-type, voltage source converter (VSC) based static synchronous compensator (D-STATCOM) having the simplest converter and coupling transformer topologies have been carried out. The VSC STATCOM is composed of a +/- 750 kVAr full-bridge VSC employing selective harmonic elimination technique, a low-pass input filter, and a &amp / #8710 / /Y connected coupling transformer for connection to medium voltage bus. The power stage of VSC based STATCOM is composed of water-cooled high voltage IGBT modules switched at 850 Hz for the elimination of 5th, 7th, 11th, 13th, 17th, 19th, 23rd,and 25th voltage harmonics. Special care has been taken in the laminated busbar design to minimize stray inductances between power semiconductors and dc link capacitor. Reactive power control is achieved by applying the phase angle control technique. The effect of input filter on total demand distortion has been investigated theoretically by mathematical derivations. The proposed VSC STATCOM has been implemented for reactive power compensation of Coal Preparation System in Kemerk&ouml / y Thermal Power Plant. The field test results have shown the success of the implemented system in view of fast response in reactive power compensation, and minimum input current harmonic content, and compliance with the IEEE Std. 519-1992 even for the weakest power systems. The application of selective harmonic elimination technique and phase angle control to VSC STATCOM has led to optimum switching frequency and device utilization for high voltage IGBTs at the expense of slower response as compared to other PWM techniques.

Οι συνεχώς αυξανόμενες ενεργειακές απαιτήσεις της σύγχρονης κοινωνίας σε συνδυασμό με τις ραγδαίες κλιματικές αλλαγές μας οδηγούν στην ανάγκη παραγωγής ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας με όσο το δυνατό πιο οικονομικό και φιλικό προς το περιβάλλον τρόπο. Έτσι, οι Ανανεώσιμες Πηγές Ενέργειας αποκτούν ολοένα και μεγαλύτερο μερίδιο στην παραγωγή ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας, αλλάζοντας συνεχώς τον παγκόσμιο ενεργειακό χάρτη. Τα αιολικά συστήματα, τα οποία αξιοποιούν την κινητική ενέργεια του ανέμου, είναι ένα είδος ΑΠΕ. Στην παρούσα εργασία μελετάμε ένα αιολικό σύστημα, το οποίο αποτελείται από μία ανεμογεννήτρια μεταβλητών στροφών που χρησιμοποιεί μία σύγχρονη μηχανή μόνιμου μαγνήτη, έναν μετατροπέα πηγής τάσης, ένα R-L φίλτρο στην πλευρά του δικτύου και μία γραμμή μεταφοράς μικρού μήκους. Η αυξημένη αξιοπιστία και απόδοση της ΣΜΜΜ την καθιστούν ιδιαίτερα ελκυστική λύση για τα αιολικά συστήματα. Στην εργασία αυτή προσομοιώνουμε σε περιβάλλον Matlab/Simulink το σύστημα που περιγράψαμε παραπάνω. Εφαρμόζοντας τις κατάλληλες τεχνικές ελέγχου από την πλευρά της μηχανής προσπαθούμε να πετύχουμε μέγιστη απομάστευση ισχύος από τον άνεμο, ενώ στην πλευρά του δικτύου προσπαθούμε μέσω άμεσου ελέγχου ροής ισχύος να πετύχουμε μοναδιαίο συντελεστή ισχύος με ταυτόχρονη ρύθμιση της τάσης της dc διασύνδεσης. Στη συνέχεια, μέσω ενός πρόσθετου ελέγχου προσπαθούμε να κρατήσουμε την τάση στην έξοδο του φίλτρου σταθερή, κατά τη διάρκεια πτώσης της τάσης του δικτύου. Τέλος, παραθέτουμε τα αποτελέσματα της προσομοίωσης μαζί με έναν σύντομο σχολιασμό και τα συμπεράσματα. / The continuously increasing energy requirements of modern society combined with the rapid climate changes lead us to the need to produce electrical energy in a more economic and environmentally friendly way. Thus, the Renewable Energy Sources gain an increasing share of electrical energy production, constantly changing the global energy map. Wind power systems, which utilize the kinetic energy of the wind, are a kind of RES. In this thesis we study a wind power system, which comprises a variable speed wind turbine, which uses a permanent magnet synchronous machine, a voltage source converter, an R-L filter in the grid side and a short transmission line. The increased reliability and performance of PMSG make it particularly attractive solution for wind power systems. In this thesis we simulate in Matlab/Simulink environment the system described above. Applying appropriate control techniques on the machine side we try to achieve maximum power harvesting from the wind, while on the grid side we try through direct power flow control to achieve unit power factor with simultaneous control of the dc link voltage. Then, using an additional control we try to keep constant the voltage at the end of the R-L filter during a grid voltage drop. Finally, we present the simulation results along with a brief commentary and the conclusions.

“High voltage direct current” (HVDC) teknologi har blivit allt viktigare teknik för att integrera förnybara energikällor i elnätet. För att styra ett sådant elsystem på bästa möjliga sätt krävs optimala kontrollstatergier både för omvandlarna och nätet. Så syftet med detta projekt är att undersöka hur olika regleringsmetoder, såsom centraliseradoch distribuerad spänningskontroll, kan påverka driften i ett 4-terminal HVDC-system. Ett optimalt effektflöde uppstår i systemet endast när likspänningen inte avviker från sitt börvärde och det uppnås genom att ha aktiv effekt regulator i varje nod i nätet. Olika scenarier som ändring av effektens börvärde och omvandlaravbrott har simulerats med hjälp av HIL-processen i realtid. Simuleringarna hjälper till att analysera hur väl dem implementerade regleringsmetoder i nodernas regulatorer hantera dessa förändringar. Resultatet ger bevis på att både centraliseradoch distruebued metoden har positiva och negativa aspekter. Fördelen med centraliserade metoden är att den ger en väldefinierad operationspunkt men den hanterar den inte svåra transienter (tex. avbrott) vilket distribuerade metoden gör.

To mitigate the carbon footprint and the need to fulfil the energy goals in terms of sustainability, it is required to deploy a large integration of green energies. Therefore, in the previous and the coming years, there will be a high research and technological interest in the high penetration of converter-based generation. With the replacement and integration of power converters into the bulk power grid, new challenges and issues must be faced to maintain the system´s stability and reliability in terms of procedures for the transmission system operators. The main objective of this thesis project is to analyze and to implement the current- limiting techniques implemented in voltage source converters, which are equipped with grid-forming functionalities so that these electronic devices are safeguarded during a severe transient event as three-phase short-circuit and remain connected to the grid during the fault scenario. The model of the voltage source converter with grid-forming strategies is described as well as the grid-forming strategies (droop control, virtual synchronous machine (VSM) and dispatchable virtual oscillator control (dVOC)) utilized in the outer loop. The low-inertia and zero-inertia system in the IEEE 9-Bus test system were exhibited to be resilient towards 3-phase fault events, and their behavior shows neither significant oscillations during and after the incident of the fault nor noticeable difference in their performance regarding the location. In this test system model, the current-limiting techniques were validated and analyzed results display good effectiveness for the current and frequency. The Hydro-Québec network model was employed to have a more practical approach in the behavior of the current limitation strategies in the power converters in a real power system. The fault location and the percentage of participation of the voltage source converters in the energy generation were the two main scenarios, in which the proposed control strategies for restricting the current work but simultaneously, it is required an appropriate control to keep the system´s stability. / För att minska koldioxidutsläppet och uppnå energimålen med avseende på hållbarhet krävs integrering av hållbara energikällor. Därmed, under de föregående och kommande  åren kommer stort fokus riktas mot forskning kring ökad penetration av kraftelektronikomriktare i kraftsystemet. När kraftelektronikomriktare ersätter traditionella generationsenheter uppkommer nya utmaningar och problem som behöver lösas för att upprätthålla systemets stabilitet och pålitlighet med avseende på tillvägagångssätt för systemansvariga för överföringssystemet.  Avhandlingens huvudmål är att analysera och implementera strömbegränsande metoder för kraftelektronikomriktare av typen voltage source converters med en nätformande (”grid- forming”) funktionalitet. Strömbegränsaren ska säkerställa att kraftelektronikomriktaren skyddas under allvarliga transienta händelser och att kraftelektronikomriktaren förblir ansluten till nätet under händelsen. Modellen av kraftelektronikomriktaren med nätformande egenskaper är beskrivna tillsammans med nätformande kontrollstrategier, virtuella synkronmaskniner (VSM) och användande av avsändande virtuell oscillerande kontroll i den yttre slingan.  Den låga trögheten och noll-tröghetssystemet i IEEE 9-Bus test-system visade sig vara motståndskraftig mot trefasfel eftersom testsystemets beteende visade varken signifikanta oscillationer under och efter felet eller märkbar förändring i dess prestanda beroende på var felet inträffade. I denna testsystemsmodell var strömbegränsande tekniker validerade och de analyserande resultaten visade på god effektivitet för strömmen och för frekvensen.  Hydro-Québec nätverks-modellen användes för att få en mer praktisk inriktning med hänsyn till beteendet hos strömbegränsarna där olika strategier har använts. Felpositionen och andelen av kraftelektronikomriktare i energigenereringen var två huvudsakliga scenarion, där de föreslagna kontrollstrategierna för att begränsa strömmen fungerade men kräver samtidigt att en lämplig kontroll för att behålla systemets stabilitet.

In order to meet the increasing demand ofenergy in today’s society while at the same time minimizing theenvironmental impact, renewable energy sources will be requiredto be integrated into the existing energy mix. Technologicaladvances in high voltage direct current (HVDC) grids playa crucial role in making this possible. Therefore the purposeof this project has been to validate the properties of basiccontrol strategies in terms of how they respond to four differentsimulation cases. All simulations have been conducted on asimplified version of the CIGR ́E B4 test grid, consisting offour monopolar HVDC converters. After analyzing the resultsobtained from each control strategy it became evident thatprovided if the benefits of the redundancy introduced by amulti-terminal grid are to be fully utilized, a distributed voltagecontrol should be used. Moreover, after substituting one ofthe four internal controllers with an external one, it becameclear that simply deciding the droop constants based on resultsfrom the simulation model wouldn’t be sufficient for real worldapplications. / För att möta det ökande energibehovet i dagens samhälle, samtidigt som energiproduktionens miljöpåverkan ska minimeras, krävs det att förnyelsebara energikällor integreras i den existerande energimixen. Tekniska framsteg inom högspända likströmsnät (HVDC) spelar en avgörande roll i att göra detta möjligt. Därför har syftet med detta projekt varit att validera egenskaperna hos grundläggande kontrollstrategier efter hur dem reagerar på fyra olika simuleringsfall. Alla simuleringar har genomförts på en förenklad version av CIGRE´ B4 testsystem, bestående av fyra monopolära HVDC omriktare. Efter att analyserat de erhållna resultaten från varje kontrollstrategi blev det uppenbart att om fördelarna med multiterminala elnät skulle uppnås, bör en distribuerad spänningskontroll användas. Dessutom, efter att ha bytt ut en av dem fyra interna kontrollerna med en extern, visade det sig att endast bestämma droppkonstanterna baserat på resultat från simuleringsmodellen inte är tillräckligt för verkliga applikationer. / Kandidatexjobb i elektroteknik 2020, KTH, Stockholm

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Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: Electrical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology 2013 / The development of power electronics did remove most of technical limitations that high voltage direct current (HVDC) used to have. HVDC, now, is mostly used for the transmission of bulk power over long distances and for the interconnection of asynchronous grid. Along with the development of the HVDC, the growth of power demand also increased beyond the utilities capacities. Besides the on-going increasing of power demand, the reforms in electricity market have led to the liberalization and the incorporation of Independent power providers in power system operation. Regulations and rules have been established by regulating authority for grid integration of Independent power providers. With the expected increase of penetration level of those new independent power providers, result of economic reason and actual green energy trend, best method of integration of those new power plants are required. In this research HVDC technology, namely VSC-HVDC is used as interface for connecting independent power providers units to the grid. VSC-HVDC has various advantages such as short-circuit contribution and independent control of active and reactive power. VSC-HVDC advantages are used for a safe integration of IPPs and make them participate to grid stabilization. MATLAB/Simulink simulations of different grid connected, through VSC-HVDC system, IPPs technologies models are performed. For each IPP technology model, system model performances are studied and dynamics responses during the disturbance are analyzed in MATLAB/ Simulink program. The simulation results show that the model satisfy the standard imposed by the regulating authority in terms of power quality and grid support. Also the results show the effect of the VSC-HVDC in preventing faults propagation from grid to integrated IPPs units.