High voltage direct current (HVDC) in applications for independent power providers

Abstract

The developments of power electronic devices have improved most of technical limitations that HVDC used to have. Nowadays HVDC is widely used for transmission of bulk power over long distances and for the interconnection of asynchronous grid. With the development of the HVDC, the growth of power demand also increased beyond the utilities capacities. In order to meet the actual power demand, utilities have to purchase power from independent power providers (IPP); which mostly are in renewable energies. The integration of those independent power productions within the grid is an issue. In this paper, IPPs challenges for grid integration are addressed and HVDC based strategies for the safe and reliable integration of renewable energies are presented.