Special Feature: AC/DC power transmission STATCOM: a new era of reactive compensation The unbundling of the generation and transmission functions in England and Wales into separate shareholder-owned companies has inevitably resulted in far less predictability in terms of generator siting and closure.' National Grid, as the sole transmission company in England and Wales, is required to plan and respond quickly to changing system patterns to maintain both security and power quality standards. This has been achieved by an extensive programme of investment in reactive compensation. To supplement the existing fixed static var compensators installed in the last 10-15 years, National Grid has, to date, installed a further 12 relocatable SVCs at sites in England and Wales as part of a planned programme of work to meet these changing system needs. by D. J. Hanson, M. L. Woodhouse, C. Horwi D. R. Monkhouse and M. we emergence of FACTS devices and in particular gate turn-off (GTO) thyristor-based STATCOMs has enabled such technology to be proposed as serious competitive alternatives to conven- tional SVCs (static var compensators) using the well proven thyristor controlled reactor (TCR) and thyristor switched capacitor (TSC). A STATCOM is a voltage sourced converter (VSC) which uses power electronic switches to derive an approximately sinusoidal output voltage from a DC source. The STATCOM is coupled to the system via an inductive impedance of low per unit value and has very similar operating characteristics to a synchronous compensator. By appropriate control of the output voltage to be either higher or lower than the system voltage, the STATCOM will draw a capacitive or inductive current from the system. Like a synchronous compensator a STATCOM has a natural tendency to compensate for changes in system voltage, even without control action, but its ow stored energy means it can do this much more rapidly. Also, unlike a constant impedance device, such as a capacitor or reactor whose output current will decrease with voltage, the STATCOM can continue to generate its maximum output current even at low system voltages. The uncertain system planning environment POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL JUNE 2002 M. Osborne in which National Grid now operates means that the advantages of STATCOM technology, in terms of system performance benefits, site area savings and ease of relocation are of increasing value. The East Claydon project was an opportunity to establish STATCOM technology in commercial service and to demonstrate its operational benefits. For this project ALSTOM has engineered a new STATCOM product which challenges the existing boundaries of advanced power electronic technology and is part of a new era in reactive compensation for transmission systems. This article describes ALSTOMS STATCOM technology and its commercial application on National Grid’ system. East Claydon project During the mid 1990s National Grid predicted a further build-up of low-cost CCGT (combined cycle gas turbine) generation in the North of England which would have resulted in increased Midlands to South power flows with a consequent large potential deficit of Mvars in the South. The provision of a SVC at East Claydon substation, with its strategic location on the 400kV grid system, therefore formed an important part of an overall scheme to provide reactive compensation in the South. To avoid the possibility of ‘stranded assets’ arising from future changes to the networkSpecial Feature: AC/DC power transmission 2 Chain circuit with tae links enpeisg rendering its positiom-Jess than optimal, the SVC must also be capable of subsequent relocation to other substations with either 400kV or 275kV connection voltage, and possessing a similar site area. A period of six months is allowed to relocate the SVC (assuming the same connection voltage) and up to three relocations are envisaged over a specified equipment lifetime of 40 years. ‘The SVC is designed to provide a smoothly variable reactive output of 0-225Mvar (capacitive) at 0-95 per unit system voltage. No inductive capability ‘was specified. The SVC equipment is connected to LV busbars operating at nominally 15-1kY, fed via the secondary winding of the compensator transformer. Design optimisation led to a configuration that employs a STATCOM with a dynamic range of 150 Mvar (£75 Mvar) which, in conjunction with a small fixed filter, provides outputs between zero and about 100Mvar, A 127 Mvar TSC is also provided to give a rapid means of delivering the additional Mvars required for an output of 225Mvar. Fig. 1 shows the SVC configuration. Design of the converter The STATCOM converter for East Claydon ‘uses the novel chain-circuit topology: In this, a converter valve comprises a number of individually switched, series-connected, single-phase bridges referred to as links. Each link incorporates four 45 KV GTOs (with 3A turn-off capability) and jtsjown DC capacitor acting as its voltage source. The need for complex magnetic combining transformers to achieve an acceptable output voltage is avoided by building up the output voltage withinjthe converter itself from a number of' separate steps, with each link providing a single step. Fig. 2 shows a simple example of an output voltage comprising three steps (four levels, including zero). To create the output voltage each GTO is only required to turn on once and tum off once per power frequency cycle, which POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL JUNE 2002gate unit gate unit ‘dst apr ups 75kH2 minimises switching losses ‘and gives a very efficient converter design. For East Claydon, the three-phase converter is connected in delta and has 16 links in series in each phase. To satisfy the worst-case operating point for the converter, a minimum of 14 links must be continuously available. Two additional links aré provided in each phase as. redundancy. Each phase is connected to the LV busbars via a small air-cored buffer reactance chosen to ensure that the control system can provide fast and stable control of the converter over its full operating range. The reactors also limit the maximum voltage and current stresses on the converter valve in the event of an insulation fault on the LV busbars. Fig. 3 shows the main components of a single link, which are described in the following sections: © DC capacitor rapid discharge: Overvoltage events can lead to trapped voltages on the DC POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL JUNE 2002 Special Feature: AC/DC power transmission cate uni link contol electronics (ce) control and databack optical flora inks to STATCOM contro! auniiry cower coupling bus (to other links) capacitors that are above the overvoltage blocking level of the links (3kV). To prevent lockout, a DC capacitor rapid discharge circuit is provided in each link. This comprises an IGBT switch and a series resistor that can quickly reduce the link voltage to below 3V. This circuit is also used to discharge the capacitors during shutdown. © DC capacitor voltage balancing: As with all multilevel converters, there are systematic processes that cause the DC capacitor voltages to become unbalanced. Control action is used to counter this tendency and ensure that good voltage balance is maintained under all normal conditions. The chosen strategy achieves this without an increase in the switching frequency of the GTOs, thus maintaining high converter efficiency. Provision is also made in the design. to manage any residual unbalancing effects by exchanging energy between capacitors. This is 3 Main components of one linkSpecial Feature: AC/DC power transmission 4 Links being mounted inacabin accomplished using dual IGBT inverters at each link, which are connected to an auxiliary coupling bus at earth potential via a fully insulated auxiliary power isolating transformer (APIT). The rating of the inverter/APIT combination is 5kVA at 7-5kHz. * Auxiliary power: When deblocked, in steady state, the net power flow on the coupling bus is, zero and the links are self-sustaining with regard to auxiliary power for energising the GTO gate units and other electronic systems. However, during start-up, shut down and following certain system faults, the links 5 Circuit for back-to-back require an independent supply of auxiliary testing of links power. A ground level power supply (GLPS) provides this energy. The GLPS additionally provides energy for pre-charging the DC capacitors, prior to closing the SVC circuit breaker. © Link electronics: Each GTO is switched by a gate unit, which provides the pulse currents required to turn-on and turn-off the GTO and a continuous direct current to maintain the device in conduction once gated. The gate units receive information to turn-on or turn-off the GTO from the link control electronics (LCE) which also controls the auxiliary inverters and rapid discharge circuits and interfaces the link with ground-level control. Most of the STATCOM equipment is cabin- mounted for ease of relocation. Each cabin has two rooms, one housing the links and their associated DC capacitors and one housing the controls, GLPS and other cabin auxiliary systems. Fig. 4 shows the link power electronic assemblies being positioned in the upper part of the valve room. The link DC capacitors are mounted beneath the power electronic assemblies (interconnected via the aluminium busbars, which are visible at the bottom of the Figure across the width of the cabin). Testing of the converter The steady state, temporary and transient voltage and current stresses on the valves were determined during the design phase. ‘Translating these stresses into a practical equipment design, validated by a programme POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL JUNE 2002Special Feature: AC/DC power transmission Table 1 Summary of periodic firing and extinction test conditions leading mode, continuous lagging mode, continuous 18432100 lagging mode, temporary __2020A__2750V of type tests was a significant challenge, particularly as this was the first application of this technology and the existing CIGRE International Standard for testing of thyristor valves for SVCs* is not strictly applicable. Nevertheless the principles recommended by CIGRE (and, more recently, by IEC) were adopted for the valve testing. The tests were separated into two broad categories ‘operational tests’ and ‘dielectric tests’ Operational tests’ For many of the tests, two links, connected back-to-back via a load inductor, one operated in leading mode (GTOs turning off current) and one operated in lagging mode (GTOs turning on in to current), proved the ideal way for replicating the critical service stresses (see Fig. 5). Power losses in the circuit were replenished by a DC test supply connected to one of the DC capacitors. Two special test rigs were built to carry out these tests. © Periodic firing and extinction tests: These were all performed at 50Hz, using the design minimum coolant flow at the design maxinmum inlet temperature. During the tests, three parameters had to be achieved simultaneously: the RMS current through the link (Inq), the instantaneous DC capacitor voltage at GTO switching (S-level) and the instantaneous current at GTO switching (Ia). Each of these parameters was set to be 5% above the maximum value in service. Table 1 details the specified test con- ditions. Fig, 6 shows representative waveforms recorded during the tests. © Power loss and temperature rise tests: The voltage- and current-dependent losses were determined separately from measurement and calculation. These power loss tests were aimed at determining the switching losses. The principle adopted was to accurately measure the total power fed into the circuit from the test supply over a range of service operating conditions and subtracting from it the low- frequency voltage- and current-dependent losses of the main circuit components. The residue is the switching loss: Many important POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL JUNE 2002 type test, § mins routine 2600A 30 mins as a type test, 5 mins routine 2850 1s, only as a type test components in the valve are liquid cooled but some are either fully or partially air-cooled, The temperature rise of erftical components above the laboratory ambient was recorded for a number of, representative operating conditions and extrapolated to the maximum service temperature. voltage Lagging Link Voltage | 2isfDiv Leading Link © Overcurrent tests: The worst case over- currents originate from the sudden release of the energy stored in the DC capacitors. In the normal case the overcurrent protection acts, quickly enough to suppress the overcurrent, by turning off the GTOs, before it rises above the safe-to-tumn-off limit of 3kA. There may, however, be abnormal cases where the current rises above 3 kA before blocking can be applied. and it is no longer safe to attempt turn off. In this case the DC capacitors discharge completely via the buffer reactors, with the 6 Wave shapes for back-to-back link testing 155Special Feature: AC/DC power transmission 156 complication that, at voltage zero (current peak), the free-wheel diodes in the links start conducting, preventing voltage reversal but leaving the peak of the overcurrent trapped as a slowly decaying DC component. Opening the SVC circuit breaker has no effect on this current, which continues to circulate, causing considerable heating of the conducting GTOs and free-wheel diodes. The overcurrent tests were performed on one link at a time, using a circuit similar to that shown in Fig. 5. The GTOs and free-wheel diodes are brought to operating temperature using a 50Hz current from a low-voltage current source, When ready, the DC capacitor is charged to a voltage just above 2-5KY, with the GTOs blocked, a switch is opened to isolate the current source and the cchosen diagonal pair of GTOs are turned on to initiate the overcurrent, which then discharges via a test reactor. For the overcurrent with blocking test, the conducting GTOs are ordered off again as the current passes through 3KA. For the overcurrent without blocking test, the GTOs are held in conduction. © Rapid discharge and auxiliary inverter tests: The rapid discharge circuit of each link was tested by discharging its associated DC capacitor from 4-4KV (just below the voltage limit of the GTOs) to 2-7kV and then to zero to represent the action of the link overvoltage protection circuit. Links selected for type testing were given three successive discharges from 4-4KV to 2-7KV, followed by a discharge tozero. The auxiliary inverters were tested, two links at a time, with the inverters both connected to an auxiliary power coupling bus as in service. Starting from a DC capacitor voltage of about 1-4kV on each link, the inverter of one link was commanded to full import and the other to full export of power. ‘When either the discharging link reached 750V or the charging link reached 2-9KV, the roles were reversed. The link inverters then continued, alternately importing and exporting full power for five minutes as a routine test and for 30 minutes as a type test. Dielectric tests Because the links and their associated DC capacitors form an integral part of the cabin assembly, the dielectric tests were performed on a complete valve assembly when mounted in its cabin, The type tests comprised standard power frequency and lightning impulse tests to earth, appropriate to 36KV class insulation, plus special power frequency and switching impulse tests between valve terminals, derived from ‘worst case service conditions. Partial discharge measurements were also performed during the AC voltage tests, The special nature of the test object and aspects of its behaviour required ingenuity to arrive at a satisfactory programme. The dielectric type tests were carried out at the BSTS Clothier Laboratory, Hebburn. © Voltage tests between valve terminals. With the valve electronics energised from the GLPS, two of the 16 links were commanded into bypass mode, to simulate loss of redundancy, while the others were held blocked. To reduce the burden on the test voltage sources, the DC capacitors at each link were disconnected, voltage sharing between links being enforced only by the internal circuits of the links. A two- part power frequency voltage test was carried out over several minutes. This was followed by the application of three impulses of a non- standard switching impulse voltage waveform in each polarity. The specified wave shape was 2-5ms time to peak and 100ms time to half value. The peak amplitude was 53-9KV, this being 10% above the valve surge arrester protective level. The non-standard wave shape reflects the very slow natural response of the converter to an externally applied overvoltage. © Supplementary dielectric tests: It was not meaningful to perform partial discharge tests during the AC voltage test between valve terminals due to the presence of inherently noisy switched-mode power supplies, choppers and auxiliary inverters etc. within the link electronic systems. To verify that the insulation systems of the valve were sound and inherently discharge free at the required voltage, two supplementary tests were performed. In the first, the individual links of one valve were disconnected from one another and the insulation between each pair of links checked at a proportionally scaled voltage. In the second, a special dummy link assembly was constructed using representative contract material in the correct physical arrangement but with certain components disconnected and others replaced by discharge-free insulating blocks. The insulation systems within the dummy link were then verified at a proportionally scaled voltage. Test results At the highest level, the equipment performed POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL JUNE 2002Special Feature: AC/DC power transmission + et es : phase shit tacking GS (i smu order —> fa 3—> Ven 1 f io — | resns-—|Mnewtening | ink, | enamine tricone ee ns ‘conto! ‘control | interes Ea=c7| electronies vw ——o} cour [ + [fee | Reon asx ——| in an exemplary way throughout the whole programme of tests, with no fundamental problems emerging. As may be expected with a new product that was undergoing rigorous testing for the first time, a number of minor issues did emerge which required attention. These included: © Higher than expected regulation in the aux- iliary power supply system. Resolved by a reconfiguration of the windings on the APITs, * Link control electronics firmware glitches and logic inconsistencies. Resolved by reprogramming. © Marginally excess temperature rise on some air-cooled link components. Resolved by adjustments to the ventilation air flow. ‘© Marginal lightning impulse voltage withstand of a few APITs at 170kV. Units investigated and rectified. No GTOs or free-wheel diodes or other valve components failed directly asa result of the test conditions. However, a number of incidents related to defective test technique did occur, which led to device failures. These testing difficulties were overcome and the tests were then passed without incident. POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL JUNE 2002. Overview of SVC/STATCOM control system The control system for the SVC is implemented. on a high-speed digital platform incorporating industry standard processors and. controllers using programmable logic devices. A top-level varvolt controller is used to define the SVC operating characteristics in much the same way as fora typical TCR application. The aim of the controller is to produce a current order for the STATCOM and a block/deblock (oft/on) signal for the TSC. As the STATCOM comprises three single-phase converters connected in delta, a separate and modified current order can be given to each phase to match prevailing conditions and to reduce the negative phase sequence voltage on the AC system, By appropriate control of the STATCOM’ output voltage (Vsru) to be higher or lower than the LV bus voltage (Vy), the STATCOM will draw a capacitive or inductive current from the system. In steady-state, the mechanism of control is to vary the phase shift (6) between ‘Vsru and Vy, causing real power flow, which then charges or discharges the link capacitors, thus varying the magnitude of Vsns. In turn, this controls the flow of reactive current. Fig. 7 shows the main parts of the STATCOM control system. Phase-shift control is at the 7 Overview of the STATCOM control system 157Special Feature: AC/DC power transmission 8 East Claydon STATCOM-based SVC site layout hheart of the closed-loop current control, defining 8 using a proportional-integral controller. The control system tracks Viv and constructs a digital representation of the required converter waveform, referred to as Vani. A series of switching thresholds are calculated based on preset harmonic cancellation criteria, the converter current and Vy. The combination of Varyand the switching thresholds results in a link control signal, which defines when the links are switched in (and thus out). These signals are determined using high-speed digital signal processing functions with a jitter of less than 2ps. The chain link interfaces then send the firing information to the link control electronics via fibre-optic cables. During system disturbances, Vagyis scaled to ensure that the converter delivers full leading cor lagging current, as appropriate, without needing to charge or discharge the link DC capacitors. For a depression in system voltage, itis modified to switch in fewer links and for high system voltages itis modified to widen the conduction period of the available links. The ‘STATCOM is therefore able to provide a very fast response to system disturbances without contributing to any short-circuit current. Site installation and layout The use of STATCOM technology and a compact arrangement of switchyard. equipment enabled the SVC to be installed e . i) > within the limited avalable site area of about 1400m?, This represents a space saving of about 40% from the use of STATCOM technology compared with conventional equipment. ach phase of the STATCOM is self contained in a road-transportable cabin (located in the top-right part of Fig 8) and the three single-phase cabins occupy less than half of the available site area. The TSC aly, associated controls and other « ancillary equipment are mounted in a similar cabin shown inthe centre ofthe picture. The cooling plant and heat exchangers are located on the right of the picture. All other switchyardtype equipment is mounted, with associated connections, on metal frames to group items together for ease of transport Commissioning process The design of the STATCOM converter, its auxiliary power supply equipment and its control system allows an ‘open-circuit’ sine wave to be synthesised by each phase of the converter prior to making the final connections to the LV busbars. Each cabin essentially acts as an open-circuit voltage source able to generate a fundamental frequency output voltage but without any load current flowing. This test was ‘an important part of the pre-commissioning process proving the operation of the STATCOM converter and its control system up to a peak terminal-to-terminal voltage of 24KkV, POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL JUNE 2002equivalent to a voltage on each link capacitor of 1500V. The converter losses (including switching losses) were supplied from the substation 415'V supply via the ground level power supply. The first significant stage of commissioning was to deblock each phase of the STATCOM in turn whilst disconnected from the LV busbars. This test proved the correct STATCOM start-up sequence whereby each link DC capacitor is charged to 1500V. With the STATCOM still disconnected, the SVC circuit breaker was closed to energise the LV busbars and generate the VT reference ‘tracking’ signal for the STATCOM control system. With the STATCOM current order manually set to zero, a check of both the magnitude and phase. relationship between the STATCOM generated voltage and the LV busbar voltage was performed. This test was thiétt Tepeated on the other two STATCOM. phases. The final busbar connections from the STATCOM cabins to the buffer reactors were made, linking the STATCOM to the LV busbars. With the TSC manually blocked and the STATCOM overcurrent protection initially set to around 20% of nominal, a manual current order of zero was set and each STATCOM phase deblocked in turn. Once correct operation was verified, the STATCOM was operated in automatic control as a three-phase unit for the first time. The SVC current order was adjusted {in steps in order to exercise the STATCOM over its full (capacitive and inductive) current range. Fig 9 shows traces from the site transient recorders for full leading and lagging current operation. Note that a voltage ripple appears on the individual capacitor voltage steps due to current flow through the link capacitors, positive in leading and negative in lagging. Individual link voltages were monitored at various converter output currents to ensure that the DC capacitor voltages were balanced across each phase Measurements of individual and total 400 kV. harmonic voltage distortion were taken across the entire STATCOM current range and comparisons made with ‘background only’ measurements, These comparisons indicated that, for the system conditions present during commissioning, the STATCOMS contribution to harmonic distortion was negligible. The results of the measurements of total harmonic voltage distortion (THD) are shown in Fig. 10. Measurements were taken for approximately POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL JUNE 2002 Special Feature: AC/DC power transmission vara / / 2500ms 25.00ms| 0.00) b 2500ms 9 STATCOM waveforms at (2) full leading and (@) full lagging current operation 10 400kV harmonic voltage distortion during STATCOM operation cone hour prior to energising the SVC to assess. background conditions (from 10:38). One of the benefits of the STATCOM is its improved speed of response and this was verified by performing a number of current order step change tests. From these tests, 6° 981M 1B00 SHA 14:24 15:38 1648 ‘ihe = THD {yatow) — TH om Oped 159Special Feature: AC/DC power transmission adjustments were made to the proportional and integral gains of phase control to achieve the ‘optimum response and an adequate speed of response. The final response tests were performed by applying various step changes to the SVCS target voltage to cause automatic switching of the TSC. When the TSC is blocked or deblocked a transient ‘kick’ is applied to the phase shift setting for the STATCOM to rapidly change its output from maximum capacitive to maximum inductive and vice versa. Various TSC block/deblock tests were carried out to determine the optimum settings for the ‘kick function to minimise the disturbance to the SVC current These response tests verified that the SVC (STATCOM and TSC) met all the control performance criteria specified by National Grid. The SVC can be operated via PC-based control points installed locally at the SVC and in the substation control room, although the SVCis generally operated remotely by National Grids National Control Centre (Wokingham) via GI74 communication links. Operation from these local and remote control points was tested to verify that the communication between the SVC control and the control points, operated correctly. ‘At the end of the commissioning process, two temperature rise tests were performed, one with the STATCOM at maximum leading current, lasting 12 hours, and one with the STATCOM at maximum lagging current with the TSC deblocked. This test lasted 24 hours. All results were satisfactory. Conclusions © ALSTOMS chain-circuit converter topology has been successfully implemented in a compact modular arrangement, which is readily relocatable as a cabin-based package. # In the absence of any directly applicable international testing standards for VSC valves, a comprehensive programme of valve type testing has been developed as part of this project. The test programme is based on an adaptation of available test guidelines for related conventional SVC valves and has been successfully completed without any ‘major problems being encountered. Tests have proven that the converter has low operating losses ensuring that there is no loss penalty for using ALSTOMS STATCOM technology in place of conventional TCR/TSC equipment. The results of the commissioning pro- gramme demonstrate that the STATCOM has an excellent dynamic response and achieves exceptionally low levels of harmonic distortion # This project is the world’ first application of a chain-circuit based STATCOM and represents a major step forward in the application of advanced power electronic solutions to transmission systems. © The STATCOM entering commercial service marks the culmination of a challenging and highly innovative development programme, which has seen the successful implemen- tation of many novel concepts in power electronics and control system design. © The now demonstrated capabilities of this equipment offer many exciting and valuable possibilities to other utilities worldwide. Acknowledgment This article is based on the following two papers presented at the IEES Seventh International Conference on AC-DC Power ‘Transmission in November 2001 © WOODHOUSE, M. L., DONOGHUE, M. W., and OSBORNE, M. M.: ‘Type testing of the GTO valves for a novel STATCOM converter’ © HORWILL, C., TOTTERDELL, A. J., HANSON, D. J., MONKHOUSE, D. R., and PRICE, J. J.: ‘Commissioning of a 225 Mvar SVC incorporating a +75 Mvar STATCOM at NGCs 400 kV East Claydon substation’ Further reading 1 JEFFERIES, D. G. ‘Developing the highways of power, Power Engineering Journal, 1997, 11, (1), pp. 59 2 KNIGHT, B.C, YOUNG, D.J,,and TRAINER, D. 8 ‘Relocauble GTO-based static var compensator for NGC substations, CIGRE 14-106, 1998 Session 3 AINSWORTH, J.D, DAVIES, M., FITZ, PJ., OWEN, K.E, and TRAINER, D. R. Static var compensator (STATCOM) based on single-phase chain circuit converters, IEE Proc. —Gener. Transm. Distrib, 1998, 145, (4), pp. 381-386 4 Working Group 1401, Task Force 02, 1995 ‘Guidelines for testing of thyristor valves fr static var compensators, CIGRE publiation 93 5 International Sandard, 1999: ‘Power electronics for electrical transmission systems—testing of thyristor valves for static VAR compensators IEC 61954 © IEE: 2002 . J. Hanson, M, L. Woodhouse and C. Horwill are with ALSTOM T&D Lid., Power Electronic Systems, UK. D. R. Monikhouse and M. M. Osborne are with National Grid Company ple, UK. POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL JUNE 2002