Impact of DC Grid Topology on Transient Stability of
HVDC-Segmented Power System
Rehan Naeem1, M.Asad Sarfraz Khan2, Zeshan Ali3, Wajahat Sultan4, Farhan Naeem5
Department of Electrical Engineering, The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan1,2,3,4
Department of Electrical Engineering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden5
eengineer107@gmail.com1
Abstract This paper compares the effects of ring, radial and
interconnected DC grid topologies on the transient stability of a
segmented 15 - bus electric grid for different HVDC schemes.
For this purpose, three HVDC convertor technologies and four
HVDC station configurations are considered. A three phase AC
bus fault is applied and the rotor angle disturbance is analyzed.
The results show that the transient stability is dependent on the
topology for bipolar configuration of line commutated current
source and capacitor commutated convertor technologies. For
rest of the HVDC schemes, transient stability is independent of
the topology used.
KeywordsHVDC system; grid segmentation; rotor angle
stability; grid topology.
I. INTRODUCTION
In the mid 1950s, direct current (DC) systems were used to
generate, transmit and distribute electrical power. DC systems
were not used excessively for long distance power transmission
due to high transmission line losses and low voltage level at
consumer end. With rapid advancement in the field of power
electronics, it is now possible to transmit power to far away
loads at high voltage levels using high voltage direct current
(HVDC) systems.
The advantages and disadvantages of HVDC system are
discussed in detail in [1]. The main components of HVDC
system are discussed in detail in [2] and [3]. One of the main
components of HVDC system is the convertor. Presently three
convertor technologies exist i.e. capacitor commutated
convertors (CCC), line commutated current source convertors
(LCC) and voltage source convertors (VSC) [1], [2]. The main
configurations of HVDC stations are monopole with metallic
return (MM), monopole with ground return (MG), bipole with
metallic return (BM), bipole with ground return (BG) and back
to back configuration [1].
Long distance power transmission, offshore power
transmission, power transmission through cables, power
transmission to urban areas and grid segmentation are some of
the applications of HVDC system [1], [2], [4]. In grid
segmentation, a huge electric grid is divided into a number of
smaller size grids which are then connected to each other
through HVDC links. The concept of grid segmentation was
introduced by authors in [5] [7]. One of the advantages of
grid segmentation is improvement in the stability of power
system.
By using grid segmentation technique, the stability of
electric grid is shown to be improved in [8] [11]. The
978-1-4673-8753-8/16/$31.00 2016 IEEE
segmented areas can be connected to each other using radial,
ring or interconnected topology. These topologies affect the
steady state losses and transient overcurrents of a multiterminal
HVDC network as discussed in [12]. In this paper, the
influence of radial, ring and interconnected topology on the
transient stability of HVDC-segmented 15-bus electrical grid is
investigated. The work done in this paper is an extended
version of the work done in [11] by taking into account all the
three HVDC technologies and all the HVDC station
configurations except for the back to back configuration. All
the simulations are carried out in PSSE software provided by
SIEMENS.
This paper is structured as follows: Section II describes the
methodology. Simulation results are discussed in section III
followed by conclusion in section IV
II. METHODOLOGY
A. Terminology
The following terms are defined for the sections to follow.
CMG is the name of the HVDC scheme which
incorporates CCC convertor technology and MG
station configuration.
CMM is the name of the HVDC scheme which
incorporates CCC convertor technology and MM
station configuration.
CBG is the name of the HVDC scheme which
incorporates CCC convertor technology and BG
station configuration.
CBM is the name of the HVDC scheme which
incorporates CCC convertor technology and BM
station configuration.
LMG is the name of the HVDC scheme which
incorporates LCC convertor technology and MG
station configuration.
LMM is the name of the HVDC scheme which
incorporates LCC convertor technology and MM
station configuration.
 (a)
Fig. 1. Power systems under study: (a) Radial topology. (b) Ring topology. (c) Interconnected topology.
LBG is the name of the HVDC scheme which
incorporates LCC convertor technology and BG
station configuration.
LBM is the name of the HVDC scheme which
incorporates LCC convertor technology and BM
station configuration.
VMG is the name of the HVDC scheme which
incorporates VSC convertor technology and MG
station configuration
VMM is the name of the HVDC scheme which
incorporates VSC convertor technology and MM
station configuration.
VBG is the name of the HVDC scheme which
incorporates VSC convertor technology and BG
station configuration.
(b)
(c)
VBM is the name of the HVDC scheme which
incorporates VSC convertor technology and BM
station configuration.
Rotor angle disturbance The difference between
the maximum value of rotor angle after application of
fault and the steady state value of rotor angle before
application of fault. It is denoted by in this paper.
B. Power systems and scenarios under study
Three scenarios are investigated for a four area, 15-bus
electric grid using PSSE simulation software. The schematic
of electric grid is used as a case study by NTDCL (National
Transmission and Dispatch Company Limited) Pakistan, for
implementing HVDC system in Pakistan. In the first scenario,
all the four areas are connected to each other by HVDC links
 (a) (b)

(c)

Fig. 2. Rotor angle of generator in area 1: (a) Radial topology. (b) Ring topology. (c) Interconnected topology.

TABLE I. ROTOR ANGLE DISTURBANCE ( DEGREES )

HVDC
CCC LCC VSC
Technology

Monopole Bipole Monopole Bipole Monopole Bipole

HVDC Station
Configurations
Metallic

Metallic

Metallic

Metallic

Metallic

Metallic
Ground

Ground

Ground

Ground

Ground

Ground
return

return

return

return

return

return

return

return

return

return

return

return
Scheme name CMG CMM CBG CBM LMG LMM LBG LBM VMG VMM VBG VBM

Radial 123 118 263 288 128 128 133 153 57 57 188 190

Ring 125.5 117.5 139.5 400 132.5 117.5 67 72 59.5 59.5 188.5 188.5

Interconnected 110 103 250 128 127.5 127.5 129 146 57 57 185 187

radially as shown in Fig.1(a). In the second scenario, all the
four areas are connected to each other in the form of a ring as
shown in Fig.1(b). In the third scenario, all the four areas are
interconnected to each other [Fig.1(c)].
In each scenario, three different convertor technologies i.e.
CCC, LCC and VSC were studied. Capacitive reactance of 40
ohms was used to convert LCC to CCC technology in PSSE
software. For each convertor technology, four different HVDC
station configurations i.e. MG, MM, BG and BM were studied.
In all the three scenarios, a three phase AC fault was
applied at bus 12 (area 3) for 0.18 seconds and rotor angle
disturbance () of generator in area 1 was analyzed. The total
simulation time was 30 s. PSSE has built-in models of power
system components. The built-in models used in this study are
GENSAL (for generator), EXDC2 (for exciters), HYGOV (for
turbines), CDC4T (for LCC link) and VSCDCT (for VSC
link).
III. SIMULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
For all the scenarios, the value of for generator in area 1
was found and recorded in Table 1. Fig. 2(a), 2(b) and 2(c) are
graphical representations of rotor angle for radial, ring and
interconnected topologies respectively. In each figure, the red,
green and yellow curves represent the rotor angle for CMG,
LMG and VMG schemes respectively. Data in Table 1 is
presented in the form of bar graphs in Fig.3.
In Fig. 2(a), the peak value of rotor angle for LMG scheme
is 140 while the pre-fault value is 12. The difference ()
between the peak and pre-fault values of the rotor angle is
128. The values of for other schemes and topologies are
determined in a similar way and are summarized in Table 1.
In all of the scenarios, the least value for was about 57
in VMG and VMM schemes. These two schemes provided
more stability to the whole power system than rest of the
schemes.
In CMG scheme, there is not a large difference between the
values of for ring, radial and interconnected topologies (see
Table 1). Similar trend is observed in CMM, LMG, LMM,
VMG, VMM, VBG and VBM schemes. For these schemes,
rotor angle stability is not affected significantly when the
topology is changed.
In CBG, CBM, LBG and LBM schemes, the difference
between the values of for ring, radial and interconnected
topologies is very significant as shown in Table 1. For these
schemes, rotor angle stability is affected significantly when the
topology is changed.
In each of CBG, LBG and LBM schemes, is minimum
for ring topology while for rest of the topologies; the values of
are approximately equal. The highest value of is 400 [8] L.C Azimoh, K. Folly, SP Chowdhury, S. Chowdhury and A. Haddad,
for ring topology in CBM scheme [Fig. 3].
Fig. 3. Relationship between rotor angle disturbance and HVDC
schemes
IV. CONCLUSION
In this paper the effects of ring, radial and interconnected
DC grid topologies on the transient stability of a 15-bus electric
grid was investigated for different HVDC schemes by applying
a three phase AC bus fault. We conclude that the disturbance
in the rotor angle of generator is least in case of VMG and
VMM schemes irrespective of the topology used. Simulation
results show rotor angle disturbance to be independent of DC
grid topologies for CMG, CMM, LMG, LMM, VMG, VMM,
VBG, VBM schemes and dependent on DC grid topologies for
CBG, CBM, LBG and LBM schemes. In future, this study can
be extended for a larger electric grid and for fault types other
than the three phase AC bus fault.
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