Modeling and control of multi-terminal HVDC with offshore wind farm integration and DC chopper based protection strategies

Multi-Terminal HVDC based on three-level neutral-clamped voltage source converters (VSC) is an ideal approach for the integration of DFIG wind farms to the power grid. However, dc-link faults and ac faults are major concerns for the safety and consistency of VSC-HVDC system. This paper demonstrates methods employing both full bridge and half bridge DC-DC converters for the fast clearance and protection of dc and ac ground faults respectively. In addition, control strategies incorporating decoupling control and feed-forward compensation on both grid side and wind farm side VSCs are also presented. Normal operations are observed to examine the performance of the MT-HVDC system, and also dc-link fault and three-phase ground fault at inverter side are simulated to verify the effectiveness of the approach employing DC-DC converters to suppress dc current overshoot in case of dc-link fault and mitigate dc voltage overshoot during three-phase ac ground fault. This proposed MT-HVDC transmission system and the fault-ride through capabilities provided by the dc choppers is validated by the simulation studies using detailed Matlab/Simulink model for normal operation, dc and ac ground faults.