APPLICATION OF POWER ELECTRONICS IN THE TRANSMISSION OF ELECTRICAL

ENERGY
T Adhikari
Transmission Projects Division
BHEL, New Delhi
email : adhikari@lod.bhel.co.in
over the world are considering restructuring
and privatisation of the industry. The aim is to
increase efficiency through better investment
decisions, better use of existing plants, better
management and better choice for customers.

ABSTRACT

Application of Power Electronics in the field

of power distribution and transmission systems
is attracting wide attention because of its
anticipated large scale application in future.
Traditional industry structure and operating
principles
have built around tightly and
centrally controlled single entity in a typical
vertically integrated utility. The demands that
are made on the power system because of
unbundling of vertically integrated utilities to
allow open access to third parties for
transmission of power will force application of
advanced controllers. It is then relevant to take
a look at how and to what extent power
electronics can contribute to effective control
of power distribution on the network. In this
paper, trends and hture prospects in utility
applications
of
power electronics are
presented. Idea is to highlight some practical
applications particularly related with FACTS
(Flexible AC Transmission Systems) which
cover a wide range of power electronics
equipment in power systems.

Whatever be the driving force, the unbundling

of vertically integrated utilities in the open
access environment will force application of
advanced controllers in the power system.
Operating principles and control of system in
the emerging scenario will be much different
from the conventional way of control.
Consequent to different ownership for
different physical components of the system,
the decision, processes will be distributed
among various entities and the data related to
hnctional control will widely differ from one
block to another. This can become quite
complex for the power system conrol engineer
particularly when switching. between various
control systems necessitated either by system
contingencies or by return on the investment.
The requirement of alternative routes, the
loading of lines to their thermal limits without
sacrificing security, the requirement of dynamic
stability make us think on voltage control,
angle control and enhanced damping. The
controllers described in the following sections
can perform many of these hnctions. All of
them _are an attempt to improve the
performance of the transmission- system by
using various types of power electronic circuits.
Some of the applications which utilize these
circuits are High Voltage DC (HVDC), Static
VAR
Compensators
(SVC),
Thyristor
Controlled series Capacitors (TCSC), Phase
Angle Regulators (PAR), Static Condensers
(STATCON), Active Filters, Unified Power
Flow Controller (UPFC) etc.

1. INTRODUCTION

With the radical restructuring of electrical

energy industry throughout the world, bulk
transmission system will not continue to be
controlled in the same manner as has been done
in the past. So far, the power system has mostly
comprised of vertically integrated utilities.
This is slowly giving way to a multitude of
diversified corporate entities having diverse
interests. roles and equipment in the power
system. For example, there are independent
generating entities,
transmission entities,
distribution entities and brokering entities.
The governments and regulating agencies all
0-7803-4886-9/98/$10.000 1998 IEEE

522

modules, blocking voltages will increase above

5kV and current handling capability for
modules to at least 2kA. To filly make use of
such parameters for FACTS applications, it
would be necessary that matching fast
switching diodes are also available. Much work
seems to be necessary to substantially reduce
the high on-state voltage.

2. POWER ELECTRONICS DEVICES

In the past decade, there has been a

remarkable progress in the high-power semiconductor devices such as GTO (Gate Turnoil) thyristors and light-triggered thyristors
(LTT);
both due to sophisticated semiconductor technology
and also owing to
demand of higher reliability in the power
systenis. Newer circuits are now evolving
which utilize turn-off devices to achieve selfcommutated configurations. In all utility
applications the semiconductor devices which
are used as switches offer a whole new
dimension in controlling the high voltage
systems which was not feasible earlier. Not only
are these switches much faster, they also do not
wear out like the mechanical switches.

3. POWER ELECTRONICS SYSTEMS /

APPLICATIONS

H VDC:
The first application of power electronics in
power transmission is the technology of HVDC
which started by using mercury ionic valves,
then switched to thyristors and has been
instrumental in pushing thyristor technology to
ever increasing device ratings. Adoption of
LTT has made a great contribution to the
development of compact and reliable thyristor
valves. LTT of
8 kV, 3 . 5 kA with the
forward voltage drop of 2.7 V at 3.5 kA,
fabricated on a silicon wafer of 6 inches in
diameter has been developed in Japan for
realizing an HVDC transmission system of
2.8 GW (+/- 500 kV, 2.8 kA) by beginning
of next century. The HVDC system would
control bi-directional flow of 2.8 GW on 50.5
kin long submarine transmission cables and 50
km long overhead transmission lines between
two electric power companies in Japan thus
resulting in a higher degree of stability in
power systems. Similar long distance 6-10 GW
HVDC transmission is planned in Brazil from
Amazon to Sao Paul0 and Rio de Janeiro. Such
a big project is feasible only by application of
high-power electronics technology.

From the many variations of power electronic

devices it appears that three types will be
dominant for FACTS and HVDC applications
during the next 5 to 10 years, viz. the line
commutated thyristor, the gate turn-off
thyristor, and the insulated gate bipolar
transistor.

Line Conimirtniecf T h y i sfors:LTT and ETT

are available. The peak blocking voltage is
expected to be limited to the 10 kV - 12 kV
range. With new or firther improved
manufacturing technologies, improvement in
current handling capability as well as in
conduction losses and dynamic parameters
appear possible (e.g. recovery charge, dildt,
dvldt).
Gale l'uni-igfthyristor. (G TO):
The
blocking voltage and current handling
capabilities are still increasing: 6kV, 6kA have
been announced and higher ratings are
expected.
Progress
in
manufacturing
technologies should result in reduced switching
losses and snubber requirements. However gate
power requirements are not expected to reduce.

Fkxible A C Trnnsnzission Systems:

Recent advances in power electronics have
made FACTS a reality. FACTS controllers
can be used to increase the transmission
capacity upto the thermal limit of transmission
lines, aid in fast voltage control in event of
contingencies and avoid loop flows causing
undesirable loading of certain transmission

Inszilated Gate Bipolar finmistor (IGB T): It

appears reasonable to expect that for future
523

Between A and B the TCR output is off and the

characteristic follows the natural impedance line
of a capacitor to some minimum voltage point
A l , below which the TSC is switched off.

facilities. FACTS thus enables increased

transmission over existing right o f way by more
effective use of network and provides
coordinated control for better total system
damping to enhance system stability and
security.

Above point B, similarly, the TSC is off and the

TCR fblly on; the characteristic follows the
natural impedance of the shunt reactor. Point C
indicates some thermal limit of current, above
which thyristor junction temperatures might
exceed a safe level for blocking. The higher
point D represents a voltage limit of equipment.

FACTS technology is not a single high power

controller but a collection of controllers, which
can be applied individually or collectively in a
staged manner to control inter-related
parameters. The various FACTS controllers
along with their attributes are listed in Tables 1
& 2. Some o f these controllers are described
below.

Thyristor Controlled Series Capacitor :

The thyristor controlled series capacitor can
vary the impedance continuously to levels
below and up to the line's natural impedance.
This helps in increasing the power flow over the
line in steady state and also it will respond
rapidly to control signals to change the line
impedance, thereby damping oscillations during
and after a disturbance. In the TCSC scheme,
part of the compensation could be fixed and
part could be made variable which can be
varied during transient conditions. An example
circuit is shown in figure-2.

Stntic VAR Conzpensntor :

The SVC uses the conventional thyristor to
achieve fast control of shunt connected
capacitors and reactors. The SVC provides a
rapid and fine control of voltage without
moving parts and is readily available in current
market. The TCR portion of SVC consists of
antiparallel thyristors in series with shunt
reactors usually in delta configuration. These
thyristors may be switched at any point over the
half wave (90 to 180 electrical degrees behind
the voltage wave) to provide a hlly adjustable
control from 100 % to zero reactive power
absorption. Harmonic currents are generated at
any angle other than 90" (full conduction) and
180" (zero conduction). Thyristor switched
reactor (TSRj or thyristor switched capacitor
(TSCj configurations are also used which have
only two states of operation - zero or full
conduction.

Plztise Angle Regulator :

Another way to control the power flow on the
transmission line is through phase angle
regulator shown in figure-3. The phase shift is
accomplished by adding or subtracting a
variable
voltage
component
that
is
perpendicular to the phase voltage of the line.
This perpendicular voltage component is
obtained from a transformer connected between
the other two phases. In the scheme shown, the
three secondary windings have voltages
proportional to 1:3:9. Thyristor switches, one
per winding, allow each winding to be included
or excluded in the positive or negative
direction. The choice of 1, 3, 9 - along with the
plus or minus polarity for each winding - yields
a switchable voltage range of -13 to +13, thus
giving a variable high speed control of the
perpendicular voltage component. The voltage

shows
a
typical
operation
Figure- 1
characteristic for SVC. At point A all TSCs and
the fixed capacitors (FC) are switched on,
providing rated reactive generation at the
specified voltage, typically 1.O pu reactive
power output at 0.95 pu voltage. At point B
the TCR (or TSR) is fully switched on, and all
TSCs or FCs off, to give rated reactive
absorption (not necessarily equal to rated
generation).
524

corresponding to each unit step will ofcourse

determine the total phase shift that results.

shift between the converter AC voltage and the

AC system.
The capability of this system is generally
expressed as a circle in the P-Q plane, also
given in figure-5. The circle arises from the
notion of the current being a fixed value related
to the capacity of the inverter, while its phase
angle relative to voltage is not restricted by the
converter. However, the ability to achieve an
arbitrary current angle is, of course, restricted
by the availability of an energy supply of the
DC link.

Static Synclzronous Generator (SSG) :

All evolving applications of self commutated
circuits to transmission systems include the
basic main circuit components illustrated in
figure-5, the combination of which is termed
Static Synchronous generator. The SSG
consists of a self commutated converter
connected to an AC power system through a
magnetic interface. A capacitor which acts as
an internal voltage source is connected across
the DC terminals of the converter. Some
applications also require energy storage or
supply to the DC link.

static
Synchronous
(STATCOW

Compensator

The application of a static synchronous

generator to regulate reactive power and/or 'ac
voltage magnitude is called STATCOM or
Static Var Generator. The reactive power of a
STATCOM can be adjusted continuously
from 100% inductive to 100% capacitive by
controlling the internal voltage magnitude.
This implies that the control range of output of
STATCOM is twice as wide as that of SVC
of the same rating
and the output is
independent of the system voltage. AC output
current of STATCOM can be kept constant by
controlling the ac output voltage even when ac
voltage drops substantially.

The principle of operation of the SSG is shown

in figure-5. The voltage source converter can
be considered as an AC voltage generator,
whose output voltage, frequency and phase
angle are controllable Accordingly, the
magnitude and the phase angle of AC currents
are adjustable by changing the magnitude and
phase angle of the AC output voltage El of the
GTO converter, because of its connection to
the AC power system through the reactance of
the magnetic interface (X,) When E1 is in phase
with VT, currents flowing from the converter to
the AC system have reactive power component
only (i.e.
= k90" due to impedance being
nearly pure reactance from converter AC
voltage to AC system). In this case, reactive
power is capacitive when El > VT, or is
inductive when Er < VT. This is the principle of
reactive power control by means of the static
VAR generator

The STATCOM
can produce negative
sequence output voltage
in addition to
positive sequence output voltage by controlling
independently the magnitude and phase angle
of each phase output voltage. Consequently,
the negative sequence component included in
ac current can be reduced by adjusting the
magnitude and the phase angle of the negative
sequence component of ac output voltage,
even when negative sequence component is
included in ac system voltage.

Actually, there will be some small phase

difference from the ideal, since power losses
generated in the magnetic interface and the
GTO converter must be compensated for by
power supplied from the AC power system.

Unified Power Flow Controller :

In case of UPFC, an AC voltage vector
generated by a thyristor based inverter is
injected in series with the phase voltage. The
driving DC voltage for the inverter is chtained

For systems where real power is to be

transferred across the converter, for instance if
the converter is connected to an energy storage
system, there will be more significant phase
525

Although application of power electronics is

gaining momentum, the total revolution in
power system on this account is still far
ahead. Power electronics based technologies
will not appeal to the system planners and
operators till such time they are absolutely sure
that such schemes can perform properly and
reliably and the matters like maintenance,
training and quality management are also
covered. It can . be easily appreciated that
dependability and reliability are utmost
important for electric power industry. As of
now, only HVDC and SVC are considered
proven
power electronic technologies by
system planners.

by rectifjring the AC to DC from the same

transmission line. In such an arrangement, the
injected voltage may have any phase angle
relationship to the phase voltage. It is therefore
possible to obtain a net phase and amplitude
voltage change that confers control of both
active and reactive power. A schematic diagram
of UPFC is shown in figure - 4.
The world's first UPFC is being installed at
the AEP Inez station in Kentucky, USA. This
+/- 320 MVA UPFC installation in Inez will
be completed in 2 phases - first phase includes a
voltage source +/- 160 MVA shunt inverter
and second phase will comprise of identical
+/- 160' MVA inverter connected in series.
Together both inverters will operate as UPFC.
This application
with its unique and
independent control of power system
parameters will optimize the use of existing
facilities, minimize the need for adding new
facilities and demonstrate the application of
new solid-state transmission system control
technology.

Another factor which directly influences the

adoption of new power electronic equipment is
its economic viability. Apart from cost, the
environmental impact, new
generation
technologies etc also influence power system
planners. Then, the type of control strategy to
be adopted depending on whether centralised
or decentralised control is adopted in a
network also influences the decision.

Active Filters:
FACTS controllers as a commercial product
are expected to be based on GTO thyristors in
the near future. Hence these controllers are
limited in switching frequency and cannot use
Pulse Width Modulation Techniques for
harmonic current cancellation. This poses a
limitation on the system design. Although
efforts are on to achieve the same flexibility in
the series connected GTO devices as in
currently available series connected thyristors
for achieving high system voltage, a lot still
needs to be done in the area of optimization of
gate drive circuits.

On account of advances in switching devices

and PWM technology, it is expected that the
function of the shunt active filters will be
expanded from harmonic compensation into the
improvement of power quality and/or stability
in power systems as the capacity of shunt
active filters becomes larger. Trend seems to
be in favour of a combined system of active
and passive filter rather than passive filter
alone. Such a system reduces initial costs and
improves efficiency. In Japan alone, more than
200 shunt active filters have been in operation.

Energy Storage Systems .

Volume of the business can also affect the

commercial development of power electronic
devices by manufacturers. Size of the devices,
their power
handling capacity
and the
characteristics of devices has undergone major
change over last three decades. For example,
power handling capability of thyristors used in
HVDC application has increased by a factor of
more than 30.

Battery energy storage systems and adjustable

speed pumped-storage
generatodmotor
systems are other applications of advances
in power electronics.
4. LlMITATIONS
526

1.On system control within a Restructured

Industry by Lester Fink and Paul J M van
Son, IEEE Transactions on Power Systems,
May 1998

Losses in semi-conductor devices which are

made up of on-state, off-state and switching
losses also depend on the type of control
strategy adopted or the particular transmission
system application. Increase in device voltage
and current rating, an increased di/dt capability
at turn-on and a reduced reverse recovery
charge can help reduce losses. Particularly for
GTOs, the turn-off gain must be greatly
increased and switching losses and snubber
requirements decreased to give the same
flexibility for series connection as is available
for thyristors.

2. Semiconductor Power Devices for use in

HVDC and FACTS controllers. Prepared by
CIGRE working group
14.17 on
Semiconductor Power Devices.

3 . FACTS Overview (Draft 2, January 1994);

CIGRE WG 14.14

4. Utility applications of power electronics by

Hirofbmi Akagi (Okayama Industry, Japan)

5. CONCLUSIONS
5 . IEEE Spectrum April 1993, Flexible AC

Transmission by
(EPW

Power Electronics application to power system

is steadily coming up. Over the years, there has
been increased understanding of
Power
Electronic Equiment to cope up with versatile
applications. Devices have been improved to
suit the applications expected of them. Further,
the unbundling of vertically integrated utilities
is also forcing power system planners to adopt
these applications wherever viable.

Narain G. Hingorani

6 . New Control Strategies for utilizing power

system network more effectively by Jorgen
FALCK CHRISTENSEN, ELECTRA No.
173 August 97.
7. Power electronics application to power
transmission by Dr. T.Adhikari et a1
presented at CPIU seminar, Dec. 1997.

6 . REFERENCES

527

Table- B

Table 2

Static VAR Compensator

Voltage control, VAR compensation, damping of

oscillations
Thyristor Controlled Series Capacitor Power control, voltage control, series impedance
control, damping of oscillations, transient stability
Static Condenser
Voltage control, VAR compensation, damping of
oscillations, transient stability
Thyristor Controlled Phase Angle Power control, phase angle control, damping of
Regulator
oscillations. transient stabilitv
Unified Power Flow Controller
Power control, voltage control, VAR compensation,
damping of oscillations, transient stability
Thyristor Controlled Dynamic Brake
Damping of oscillations, transient stability

/E

Voltage (pu)

1
B

Characteristic Of SVC
at HV Busbar
Figure - 1
I

Capacitive Current

Inductive Current

Mechanically
Controlled

Thyristor Controlled Series Capacitor

Figure - 2

Series
Transformer

...........................

Transmission Line

Excitation

........................................................................
.................................................................

Phase Angle Regulator

Figure - 3

AC
System

AC
Svstem

Breaker

Series
Magnetic
Interface

Shunt
Magnetic
Interface

Voltage
Source
Inverter

DC
Capacitor

Main Circuit Components

of
Unified Power Controller
529

AC System

Main Circuit Components of

Static Synchronous Generator

;
T
I

Breaker

Optional
Energy
Storage or
SUPPlY

Magnetic
Interface

DC
Capacitor

Voltage Source
Inverter

Phasor Diagram

Reactive Power (MVAR)

.

I Caoacitive

Active Power
Inverting

'

Inductive

Operating Principle of Static

Synchronous Generator
Figure - 5

530