Robust grid-oriented control of high voltage DC links embedded in an AC transmission system

Several studies have shown that the way to design controllers for the high-voltage direct current (HVDC) links impacts the transient behavior of the electric system in which the latter are inserted. This can be exploited to improve the performances of the stability of the power system. In this paper, a robust multivariable control design for the converters of an HVDC link is proposed. It is based on the coordination of the control actions of the HVDC converters and the use of a control model. The latter takes into consideration, in addition to the dynamics that mostly impact the stability of the neighbor zone of the HVDC link, several cases of faulted situations modeled as uncertainties. An H controller allowed us to achieve robustness against such uncertainties. The new controller is tested in comparison with the standard vector control and an optimal linear quadratic controller using the EUROSTAG simulation software (Tractebel Engineering, Brussels, Belgium and Reseau de Transport d'Electricite (RTE) - France) on both academic and realistic large-scale power systems. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.