A traveling-wave-based protection scheme for the bipolar voltage source converter based high voltage direct current (VSC-HVDC) transmission lines in renewable energy integration

Abstract— The voltage source converter based high voltage direct current (VSC-HVDC) technology is a feasible solution to realize wide-area complementarity and flexible consumption of the renewable clean energy resources but DC line faults are crucial problems. The traditional traveling wave protection for HVDC transmission lines are easily affected by the fault resistance and signal noise. Besides, it cannot detect the double-pole-to-ground fault. To overcome these problems, a single-ended protection scheme based on the phase-mode transformation and wavelet transform modulus maximum (WTMM) theories for DC lines in the VSC-HVDC transmission system is proposed in this paper. The protection scheme includes the protection startup unit, the internal fault identification unit, and the faulty pole detection unit. Extensive simulation tests carried out in PSCAD/EMTDC verify that the protection scheme has high selectivity in the high fault resistance faults, remote faults, and close-by faults with different fault types. And it does not rely too much on data synchronization. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis and comparisons with other methods indicate that the protection is insensitive to signal noise and suitable for different operational modes. And the effectiveness of the protection is independent of the high sampling frequency. Moreover, it can identify the double-pole-to-ground fault correctly.