The components of an HVDC transmission system:

The components that comprise the HVDC system, and the options available in these components, are presented and discussed. The three main elements of an HVDC system are: the converter station at the transmission and receiving ends, the transmission medium, and the electrodes.

The converter station:

The converter stations at each end are replicas of each other and therefore consists of all the needed equipment for going from component of a converter station are: Thyristor valves: The thyristor valves can be build!up in different "ays depending on the application and manufacturer. Ho"ever, the most common "ay of arranging the thyristor valves is in a t"elve!pulse group "ith three quadruple valves. #ach single thyristor valve consists of a certain amount of series connected thyristors "ith their au$iliary circuits. ll C to DC or vice versa. The main

communication bet"een the control equipment at earth potential and each thyristor at high potential, is done "ith fibre optics. VSC valves: The V%C converter consists of t"o level or multilevel converter, phase!reactors and C filters. #ach single valve in the converter bridge is built up "ith a certain number of seriesconnected &'(Ts together "ith their au$iliary electronics. V%C valves, control equipment and cooling equipment "ould be in enclosures )such as standard shipping containers* "hich ma+e transport and installation very easy. ll modern HVDC valves are "ater!cooled and air insulated. Transformers: The converter transformers adapt the C voltage level to the DC voltage level and they contribute to the commutation reactance. ,sually they are of the single phase three "inding type, but depending on the transportation requirements and the rated po"er, they can be arranged in other "ays AC Filters and Capacitor Banks: -n the C side of a ./!pulse HVDC converter, current harmonics of the order of .., .0, /0, /1 and higher are generated. 2ilters are installed in order to limit the amount of harmonics to the level required by the net"or+.. &n the conversion process the converter consumes reactive po"er "hich is compensated in part by the filter ban+s and the rest by capacitor ban+s. &n the case of the CCC the reactive po"er is compensated by the series capacitors installed in series bet"een the converter valves and the converter transformer. The elimination of s"itched reactive po"er compensation equipment simplify the area required for an HVDC station built "ith CCC. 4ith V%C converters there is no need to compensate any reactive po"er consumed by the converter itself and the current harmonics on the C side are related C s"itchyard and minimi3e the number of circuit!brea+ers needed, "hich "ill reduce the

directly to the 546 frequency. Therefore the amount of filters in this type of converters is reduced dramatically compared "ith natural commutated converters. DC filters: HVDC converters create harmonics in all operational modes. %uch harmonics can create disturbances in telecommunication systems. Therefore, specially designed DC filters are used in order to reduce the disturbances. ,sually no filters are needed for pure cable transmissions as "ell as for the (ac+!to!(ac+ HVDC stations. Ho"ever, it is necessary to install DC filters if an -H line is used in part or all the transmission system The filters needed to ta+e care of the harmonics generated on the DC end, are usually considerably smaller and less e$pensive than the filters on the filters are the C side. The modern DC ctive DC filters. &n these filters the passive part is reduced to a minimum

and modern po"er electronics is used to measure, invert and re!in7ect the harmonics, thus rendering the filtering very effective. Transmission medium 2or bul+ po"er transmission over land, the most frequent transmission medium used is the overhead line. This overhead line is normally bipolar, i.e. t"o conductors "ith different polarity. HVDC cables are normally used for submarine transmission. The most common types of cables are the solid and the oil!filled ones. The solid type is in many cases the most economic one. &ts insulation consists of paper tapes impregnated "ith a high viscosity oil. 8o length limitation e$ists for this type and designs are today available for depths of about .999 m. The self :contained oil!filled cable is completely filled "ith a lo" viscosity oil and al"ays "or+s under pressure. The ma$imum length for this cable type seems to be around ;9 +m. The development of ne" po"er cable technologies has accelerated in recent years and today a ne" HVDC cable is available for HVDC underground or submarine po"er transmissions. This ne" HVDC cable is made of e$truded polyethylene, and is used in V%C based HVDC systems.

Cost structure:
The cost of an HVDC transmission system depends on many factors, such as po"er capacity to be transmitted, type of transmission medium, environmental conditions and other safety, regulatory requirements etc. #ven "hen these are available, the options available for optimal design )different commutation techniques, variety of filters, transformers etc.* render it is difficult to give a cost figure for an HVDC system. 8evertheless, a typical cost structure for the converter stations could be as follo"s:.

s a guidance, an e$ample sho"ing the price variation for an C transmission compared "ith an HVDC transmission for /999 64 is presented above

Advantages of HVDC Systems:

6odern HVDC systems combine the good e$perience of the old installations "ith recently developed technologies and materials. The result is a very competitive, fle$ible and efficient "ay of transmitting electrical energy "ith a very lo" environmental impact. &t is important to remar+ that an HVDC system not only transmit electrical po"er from one point to another, but it also has a lot of value added "hich should have been necessary to solve by another means in the case of using a conventional transmission. %ome of these aspects are: 8o limits in transmitted distance. This is valid for both -H lines and sea or underground cables. Very fast control of po"er flo", "hich implies stability improvements, not only for the HVDC lin+ but also for the surrounding C system. Direction of po"er flo" can be changed very quic+ly )bi!directionality*. HVDC transmissions have a high availability and reliability rate, sho"n by more than 09 years of operation. HVDC can carry more po"er for a given si3e of conductor n HVDC lin+ dont increase the short!circuit po"er in the connecting point. This means that it "ill not be necessary to change the circuit brea+ers in the e$isting net"or+. C

C-8C<,%&-8
During HVDC transmission line pro7ect planning, nearly the same environmental impactcharacteristics that are considered in planning a HV C transmission lines pro7ect should beta+en intoconsideration. These characteristics include impacts from electrical and magnetic fields, radio interference, audio noise, the potential fast corrosion of metal installations due to electrical currents in the ground, the land alienation )use changes* involved in siting transmission line to"ers and substations and,

also, the potential changes in and limits on land use under and near overhead transmission lines. &n some cases, the visual impacts of lines also have to be considered The combination of several specific physical characteristics and related technical aspects related to line construction and operation, HVDC transmission lines have advantages over HV C transmission lines for a ma7ority of environmental impact indices. These advantages allo" environmental performance to be improved at lo"er costs "hen installing HVDC lines, relative to HV C lines. The value of land use changes can be ta+en as an overall inde$ for the comparative analysis of the environmental impacts of HV C and HVDC transmission lines of the same relative capacity. (ased on a rough estimate, this ratio is ..1 in favor of the )lo"er cost* HVDC transmission lines. Thus, from the ecological point of vie", a HVDC po"er transmission system as a "hole is preferable to a system using e$clusively HV C transmission lines.

=#2#=#8C#%: ! #.4. >imbar+, Direct Current Transmission, Volume 1. 8e" ?or+: @ohn 4iley A %ons, .BC.. "! >.=. 5adiyar, HVDC Transmission - Technology and System Interactions, 8e" ?or+: @ohn 4iley A %ons, .BB9