Multilevel Voltage-Sourced Converters for HVDC and FACTS Applications

Recent developments in the area of HVDC and FACTS are dominated by two new technology trends. This first is the in troduction of ultra high dc voltage systems for bulk power transmission, and the second is the increased application of voltage-sourced converters (VSC) in HVDC and FACTS schemes. Particularly, the VSC technology provides many attractive features to meet challenges in today s power industry, such as feeding megacities, connecting renewable energy from off shore wind farms and fast voltage regulation by compact static Var compensator. So far, the VSC for HVDC and FACTS applications uses mostly 2 or 3-level converters. However, it is well known that multilevel VSCs can provide some unique advantages with respect to the performance and harmonic impacts. This paper presents a modular multilevel VSC topology developed by Siemens for HVDC and FACTS applications. The basic concept and the technical performance of this innovative converter concept and the Pulse Width Modulation (PWM), which is used to drive it, will be discussed in details. Then the output voltage is compared and analyzed.

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