The Role of High Voltage Direct Current Technology in Transmission Planning for Renewable Energy Integration: a Case of Wind Energy

Abstract

Renewable Energy Integration (REI) to the electrical grid comes with various technical challenges. One of these challenges is the need to upgrade the existing transmission infrastructure given the significant distance between the geographical locations of renewable energy power plants and the intended point of use (POU). VSC HVDC technology possesses a plethora of merits that make this system of transmission the choice alternative for Renewable Energy Transmission (RET) over long distances. However, electricity generation from Renewable Energy Sources (RES) like Wind power, Solar power and Wave energy come along with certain distinct characteristics that makes the goal of grid integration and long distance RET daunting. Wind,for example is very unpredictable– the ripple effect of this unpredictability is that the availability of output of power at POU will also fluctuate, so much so that without auxiliary support secure, reliable and quality power cannot be dispatched. The complexity is augmented when even scheduling generation in advance cannot be planned for because of the uncertainty of the power output at POU. One method of auxiliary support is VSC HVDC. VSC HVDC can independently create an AC voltage from DC voltage for the exchange of active and reactive power within the HVDC transmission link. This injection of active and reactive power is paramount when it becomes needful to stabilize the forecasted power so that the voltage and frequency of the electrical is maintained. Fluctuations of voltage and frequency are among the core precipitators hampering the viable health of the power system infrastructure. This project VSC HVDC that was simulated in a MATLAB environment for offshore wind power integration and the results obtained demonstrated the need to adopt HVDC for the evacuation of RE power and transmission over long distances.