Impact of VSC HVdc on AC System Generation
S Arunprasanth*, U D Annakkage†, C Karawita‡, R Kuffel*
*RTDS Technologies Inc., Canada, †University of Manitoba, Canada, ‡TransGrid Solutions Inc., Canada
arunprasanth@ieee.org, udaya@ieee.org, ckarawita@tgs.biz, rk@rtds.com
Keywords: High-voltage direct current, modular multilevel
converter, real-time digital simulator, short circuit ratio,
transient stability.
Abstract
This paper investigates the impact of different control modes
of VSC HVdc to the transient stability of power systems.
VSC HVdc offers fast bi-directional power control in addition
to fast ac voltage control. This feature is utilized in this study
to enhance the transient stability of a conventional generator
in a power system. Simulations are carried-out for three
scenarios: (i) the generator is connected to the VSC terminal,
(ii) the generator is connected at a distance from the VSC
terminal, and (iii) the VSC is connected at a distance from the
generator terminal. The critical fault clearing time is used as
the indicator of the stability of power system. In each
scenario, effects of both ac voltage control and reactive power
control are studied. This paper shows that the transient
stability of power system can be improved by having a VSC
with fast ac voltage control near to synchronous generators.
1 Introduction
At present, power systems are operated close to the stability
limits due to the high electricity demand and penetration of
renewable energy generations. Heavily loaded power systems
will have small critical fault clearing time (CCT) and may
experience transient stability issues if fast protection actions
are not available. [1, 2]. Recent development in voltage
source converter (VSC) technology has convinced the
industry to use VSCs for present and future HVdc
implementations [3]. The ability of fast bi-directional control
of active and reactive powers of VSCs can facilitate the ac
system with fast recovery from ac faults. Therefore, VSC
HVdc systems can be used to extend the CCT of power
systems to improve the transient stability margin.
This paper explores the transient stability enhancement by
having a two-terminal modular multilevel converter (MMC)
type VSC system in an ac power system. The stability of a
conventional synchronous generator connected in the vicinity
of the MMC-VSC system is investigated. The short circuit
ratio (SCR) is used to define the strength of the ac system.
The impact of fast ac voltage control capabilities of the VSC
system on the CCT is evaluated by comparing against the
generator under the influence of the VSC system with the
reactive power control. The stability of the system is further
evaluated when the generator is connected at a distance from
1
the VSC terminal and also when the VSC is connected at a
distance from the generator. The simulation studies were
performed using the electro-magnetic transient (EMT) model
of power system developed on the real-time digital simulator
(RTDS). The simulation results are presented to show that the
presence of MMC-VSC system helps to extend the CCT of
the synchronous generator that is connected to the power
system.
2 Power System Stability
Although, the penetration of renewable energy generations
such as wind and solar is increasing, many utilities around the
world depend on conventional electricity generations by large
scale synchronous machines. Typically, the system frequency
is governed by these synchronous machines. Therefore,
maintaining synchronism of these generators is very
important for the stable operation of power system.
The transient stability of a power system is defined as the
ability of a power system to remain in stable operation after
being subjected to transient disturbances such as faults [2].
Typically, the transient stability of a power system is defined
in terms of the CCT of the power system. During a fault in a
power system, the synchronous generators close to that fault
acquire kinetic energy. The ability of those generators to stay
in synchronism after clearing the fault depends on the speed
at which the acquired kinetic energy is transferred to the ac
power system. Since the power systems are operated close to
the stability limits, it is very important to take remedies to
improve the CCT for better reliability.
There is an increasing trend in power electronic application to
power system. The latest invention of VSC known as the
MMC provides inherent control features such fast ac voltage
control. The rapid ac voltage controlling capability of the
VSC facilitates quick transfer of kinetic energy from the
generator to the ac power system after a fault. Therefore,
VSCs can be used to enhance the transient stability of power
systems.
3 Test Power System
The power system used in this study consists of a
conventional synchronous generator (up to 1100 MVA), an
MMC-VSC system (500 MW, 500 kV dc), and Thévenin
equivalents of large power systems (SCR of 3.0 at 230 kV
ac). The configuration of the simulated power system network
is shown in Fig. 1.
 DC Line Outer-Loops Inner-Loops vtd(m)
Vdc(r) _+
Idc +_ PI itd(r)
+_ PI vd(o)
(or Pt(r)) +

MMC-1 Vdc1 Vdc2

 MMC-2
Vdc(m) ȦL
itd(m)
(or Pt(m)) Magnitude
Vt1 Vs1 Vs2 Vt2 |Vt|(m)
Limiter
itq(m)
Zs1 Zs2 (or Qt(m)) ȦL
Pt2, Qt2 |Vt|(r) _
PI
itq(r) _
PI _
_
+ +
+ vq(o)
AC System-2 (or Qt(r))
Pt1, Qt1
G vtq(m)

AC System-1 Fig. 2: d-q decoupled control system (r-reference, m-

Fig. 1: AC power system with a two-terminal MMC-VSC
System.
The EMT simulation model of the power system was
developed on RTDS. Under steady state operating conditions,
the HVdc system was set to transfer 500 MW of power from
ac system-1 to ac system-2. The RTDS is capable to perform
real-time simulation of power systems using two different
integration time-steps to keep the accuracy at a higher level.
The ac grids, the synchronous machine, and control
components were simulated using a large integration time-
measured, o-order).
In this analysis, the VSC was operated in two different modes
known as the ac voltage (|Vt|) control mode and the reactive
power (Qt) control mode. In the 'Q' control mode, the steady
state reactive power supplied to the ac system was set to zero.
This means that the q-axis current reference (itq(r)) is always
set to zero and therefore, the reactive current support during
the transient is negligible. This was used as a reference to
determine the impact of ac voltage control of VSC HVdc.
The stability of VSC systems highly depend on the controller
parameters of d-q decoupled control. In this study, the
step ȝVZKLOHWKHGF network and MMCs were simulated controller parameters were obtained using the generalized
using a small integration time-VWHS a ȝV The block control tuning method proposed in [7]. In addition to the d-q
diagram of the complete control of the test power system is decoupled control, each MMC is equipped with a circulation
shown in Fig. 8 in the Appendix. suppression controller introduced in [8].
3.1 Control of Synchronous Generator
4 Time-Domain Simulation Studies
The synchronous generator (G) is modelled using the sixth
The transient stability enhancement was studied using time-
order synchronous generator model available in RSCAD, the
domain simulations on the RTDS simulators. The critical
user interface of RTDS. The generator controls include an
clearing time (CCT) of the generator was determined by
IEEE-AC4 type excitation system [4] for the voltage
applying a three phase solid fault at the generator terminal
regulation, a TGOV1 type thermal governor [5] for the
and increasing the fault clearing time until the generator
frequency regulation, and an IEEE-PSS1A type power system
becomes unstable. Two cases were considered;
stabilizer for the low frequency oscillation damping purposes.
In addition, a voltage droop control is also used for the
case-1: MMC-1 controls the terminal voltage (|Vt1|) at 1.0 p.u.
generator as it is connected to a point close to the converter
(MMC-1) that controls the terminal voltage (|Vt1|).
case-2: MMC-1 controls the reactive power (Qt1) supplied to
ac system-1 at 0 p.u.
3.2 Control of MMC-VSC
The commonly used d-q decoupled control scheme [6] is Three different scenarios were considered as described below;
adopted in this study to control each MMC. This control
scheme consists of cascaded PI-control loops referred to as 4.1 Scenario-1
outer-loop (power-loop) controllers and inner-loop (current-
The synchronous generator and the MMC-VSC system were
loop) controllers as shown in Fig. 2. The outer-loop
connected to terminal-1 as shown in Fig. 1. The CCT values
controllers are responsible to produce the reference values for
of the synchronous generator were obtained for both case-1
the d-q frame currents. In the outer-loop, either dc voltage or
and case-2. For each cases, the generator rating was changed
active power is selected as the control variable to produce d-
from 100 MW to 1000 MW in steps of 100 MW (110 MVA
axis current reference. Similarly, either ac voltage or reactive
to 1100 MVA in 110 MVA steps). The variations of CCT
power is selected as the q-axis control variable. Then, at the
values of both cases are shown in Fig. 3. It can be observed
inner-loop, the measured d-q currents are regulated to meet
that when the VSC is in ac voltage control mode, it
the reference currents. In this study, the MMC-1 functions as
significantly improves the CCT of the generator. However, if
the rectifier to control the dc voltage (Vdc1) and MMC-2 is the
the rating of the generator is much larger than that of VSC,
inverter that controls the active power (Pt2).
the improvement is not significant.

2

Fig. 3: Variation of critical clearing time for scenario-1.
The contribution of VSC to the improvement of CCT can be
explained using the fundamental equation for the power
transfer between the generator/VSC terminal and the infinite
bus, given in Equation (1).
The distance between the VSC terminal and the generator was
varied by changing 'x' from 0 to 0.75. in steps of 0.25. At each
'x', the rating of the generator was changed from 100 MW to
1000 MW in steps of 100 MW. The CCT values of reactive
power control mode and voltage control mode are given in
Table 1. The variation of CCT values for x = 0 was shown in
Fig. 3 and variations for other 'x' values are shown in Figs.
5(a)-5(c).
It can be observed that the CCT is higher when the VSC
operates in ac voltage control mode rather than in reactive
power control mode. Generally, the improvement is larger
when the rating of the generator is small. Also, it can be
observed that the improvement in CCT decreases as the VSC
system moves away from the generator terminal. One
exception was noticed when the generator is far away from
the VSC and close to the infinite bus (x=0.75). When the
generator rating was increased beyond 500 MW, there was a
significant drop in CCT in case-2 (reactive power control). In
these cases, the ac voltage control was helpful for the VSC to
recover fast. Therefore, with the VSC in ac voltage control, a
significant improvement in CCT was observed as shown in
Vs1 Vt1 sin G1  (1)
Fig. 5(c)
P
X1 PGEN x=0 x = 0.25 x = 0.50 x = 0.75
(MW) C1 C2 C1 C2 C1 C2 C1 C2
Where, Vs1, Vt1, į1, and X1 are the infinite bus voltage, 100 480 390 460 390 470 395 450 405
terminal voltage, angle difference (between Vs1 and Vt1), and 200 385 335 385 360 380 355 385 365
reactance of the Thévenin source of ac system-1 respectively. 300 360 300 350 330 355 330 365 340
400 335 280 310 305 335 310 345 320
In classical stability assessment, the stability is mainly 500 315 265 305 290 315 295 330 245
explained using the angle difference (į1). However, in this 600 300 245 295 280 300 280 315 230
research, the terminal ac voltage (Vt1) is used to explain the 700 280 230 280 270 280 265 300 215
stability as the control of ac voltage is different when the 800 260 210 265 260 265 255 290 205
VSC is in ac voltage control and in reactive power control. 900 230 190 255 260 250 245 280 185
Fast ac voltage control helps terminal voltage to recover fast 1000 170 180 245 265 230 230 265 180
and hence, improves the power transfer across the Thévenin
impedance. Improvement in power transfer offers Table 1: Critical clearing time of generator for scenario-2 in
improvement in CCT and transient stability of power system. milliseconds (C1: case-1 and C2: case-2).
4.2 Scenario-2
The synchronous machine was connected at a distance (x)
from the VSC terminal-1 and towards to the Thévenin
equivalent source of large power system as shown in Fig. 4.

Vs1 Vt1
(1-x)Zs1 xZs1 MMC-
VSC
System
AC System-1

G
Vg1

Fig. 4: Circuit diagram for scenario-2. (a) x = 0.25

3
 PGEN y=0 y = 0.25 y = 0.50 y = 0.75
(MW) C1 C2 C1 C2 C1 C2 C1 C2
100 480 390 410 395 370 350 345 350
200 385 335 380 365 330 315 315 320
300 360 300 340 330 300 290 285 285
400 335 280 315 305 280 265 260 255
500 315 265 280 280 255 235 230 225
600 300 245 270 265 230 215 210 200
700 280 230 250 240 205 180 185 180
800 260 210 235 220 180 160 165 150
900 230 190 220 215 165 135 135 125
1000 170 180 210 200 120 70 UN UN

Table 2: Critical clearing time of generator for scenario-3 in

(b) x = 0.50 milliseconds (C1: case-1, C2: case-2, and UN: unstable).

The variation of CCT values for y=0 was shown in Fig. 3 and
variations for other 'y' values are shown in Fig. 7(a)-7(c).

It can be observed that the improvement in CCT with the

VSC in ac voltage control mode compared to the reactive
power control mode becomes small when both VSC and
Thévenin source are away from the generator.

(c) x = 0.75
Fig. 5: Variation of CCT values for scenario-2.

4.2 Scenario-3
The MMC-VSC system is connected (to terminal-1) at a
distance from the synchronous machine and towards the
Thévenin equivalent model of the large power system as
shown in Fig. 6.
(a) y = 0.25
Vs1 Vt1 Vg1
(1-y)Zs1 yZs1
G
AC System-1

MMC-
VSC
System

Fig. 6: Circuit diagram for scenario-3.

The distance between the VSC terminal and the generator was
varied by changing the value of 'y' from 0 to 0.75 in steps of
0.25. At each 'y', the rating of the generator was changed from
100 MW to 1000 MW in steps of 100 MW. The CCT values (b) y = 0.50
of voltage control mode and reactive power control mode are
given in Table 2.

4

(c) y = 0.75
Fig. 7: Variation of CCT values for scenario-3.
5 Conclusions
This paper discussed the transient stability improvement
achieved by means of a two-terminal MMC-VSC system in a
power system. The critical fault clearing time was used as the
measure of the stability. It has been shown that the presence
of a VSC HVdc system with fast ac voltage control can
significantly improve the transient stability of the generator in
an ac network. The improvement is more prominent when the
generator with a low rating is placed close to the VSC
terminal.
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Biographies
Sakthivel Arunprasanth received the B.Sc. (Eng.) and M.Sc.
(Eng.) degrees in electrical engineering from the University of
Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, in 2010 and 2013, respectively,
the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of
Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada in 2016.
He is now working as a Simulation Specialist at the RTDS
Technologies Inc., Winnipeg, MB, Canada. He was a Researcher and
Instructor in the Department of Electrical and Electronic
Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, from
2010 to 2012. His research interests include transient and small-
signal stability studies of HVDC and HVAC systems and real-time
electromagnetic transient simulation of power systems.
Udaya Annakkage received the B.Sc. (Eng.) degree in electrical
engineering from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, in 1982,
and the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the
University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology
(UMIST), Manchester, U.K., in 1984 and 1987, respectively.
He is presently a Professor with the University of Manitoba,
Winnipeg, MB, Canada. He was the Head of Electrical and
Computer Engineering Department, University of Manitoba, from
2008 to 2012. His research interests include power system stability
and control, security assessment and control, operation of
restructured power systems, and power system simulation.
Prof. Annakkage was an editor for the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON
POWER SYSTEMS from 2009 to 2012. He is currently the
convenor of CIGRE Working Group on Application of Phasor
Measurement Units for monitoring power system dynamic
performance.
Chandana Karawita received the B.Sc. (Eng.) degree in electrical
engineering from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, in 2002
and the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering with a
specialization in power and energy systems from the University of
Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, in 2006 and 2009, respectively.
He joined TransGrid Solutions Inc., Winnipeg, in 2007 and is
currently Manager-Research and Development. He has specialized in
power systems planning studies for HVDC and HVAC integrations
and wind power generation. He is also a specialist in small-signal
stability assessment and power system stabilizer tuning, HVDC
interaction studies, and sub-synchronous oscillation studies of power
systems. He was instrumental in developing a soft-ware package to
analyze sub-synchronous interactions in power systems. He is
involved in academic research as an Adjunct Professor at the
University of Manitoba.
Rick Kuffel received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from the
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada in 1984 and 1986
respectively. After graduating, he first joined Brown Boveri (BBC),
Baden, Switzerland working in their HVDC Project Simulation
Center. He later returned to Winnipeg and joined Teshmont
Consultants where he worked primarily in their simulation and
studies group. In 1990, Mr. Kuffel moved to the Manitoba HVDC
Research Centre where he was involved in development of the
RTDS real-time digital simulator and in 1994 became a founding
principal of RTDS Technologies Inc. His interests include
electromagnetic transient simulation, real time testing of control and
protection systems, HVDC control strategies, Modular Multilevel
Converters, DC Grids and the integration of renewable energy
sources in traditional power systems.
Appendix

Ȧ Ef
if Vs Power Voltage
Thermal
governor Tm G V
AC exciter ઱ system
stabilizer
droop
control

Terminal bus-1
DC system
Converter
station
Zs1
MMC-1 vdc1 and
AC system-2
Vt1 it1
Pt1, Qt1 iarm1, vcap1

Measurement & vabc1 Firing pulse Capacitor voltage

PLL
Per-unitization generator balancing
vabc1(m) iabc1(m) įm1
abc/d-q vdq1 d-q decoupled vabc1 d-q/abc
transform idq1 control transform
vabc1(o)
Pt1,Qt1,|Vt1| Control system-2
vdc1(r),|Vt1|(r)
iarm1
Pt1(r), Qt1(r)
abc/d-q Circulation d-q/abc
transform current control transform ઱

2įm1 Control system-1

Fig. 8: Control block diagram of the test system