Optimal placement and control variable setting of power flow controllers in multi-terminal HVDC grids for enhancing static security

Abstract This research proposes an approach to select an optimal place and control variable setting for recently proposed Power Flow Controller (PFC)s including series, cascaded, and interline PFCs in Multi-Terminal High-Voltage DC (MT-HVDC) grids based on sensitivity analysis technique to enhance static security. To do so, appropriate static power injection models of the PFCs are obtained. Accordingly, sensitivity relationships between the defined power performance index and each PFCs control variable are obtained. It is for the optimal PFCs placement purpose in order to utilize maximum capacities of the transmission grid. Optimal settings for the PFC as well as the controllable voltage source converters are computed in turn by applying sequential quadratic programming solver to the developed security-based DC optimal power-flow problem which includes several corrective constraints. The study scope is single contingencies affecting HVDC lines with the objective of eliminating the consequent overloaded HVDC lines and thereby enhancing the MT-HVDC grid security by controlling the power flows within the MT-HVDC grid. Static simulations are performed considering two generic four-terminal and eighth-terminal MT-HVDC test grids in order to demonstrate the proposed methods effectiveness and authenticate its robustness. The obtained results indicate that the MT-HVDC grid can remain secure under single HVDC line contingencies in most cases by implementing the proposed method.