Role of HVDC and Power Electronics in Shaping the Future Electric Grid with Renewables

Many utilities are undertaking smart grid projects around the world. Though the initial smart grid projects focus at distribution level but the trend is growing towards smart transmission level controllers as well. It is foreseen that many High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) and power electronics-based Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) controllers will be installed in the T&D networks to realize the smart transmission and distribution network. According to a report from Pike Research, one of the most important high-growth sectors within the utility market is HVDC transmission. According to Cleantech Market Intelligence Firm, the cumulative spending for HVDC Systems between 2012 and 2020 was about US $120 Billion and it is increasing rapidly in the future. Though most of the growth is in Asian countries like China and India, it is also anticipated that significant increase in HVDC applications will happen in Europe, North America, and other parts of the world due to renewable resource integration.
This presentation provides the state-of-the art in HVDC and FACTS technologies and discusses the new applications of HVDC and FACTS, AC line conversion to DC, and new converter developments such as modular multilevel VSC converters.