A Study on The Black Start Capability of
VSC-HVDC Using Soft-starting Mode
Mingxia Zhou1, Sheng Li1, Jianhua Zhang1, Zongqi Liu1, Yinhui Li1
1 Key Laboratory of Power System Protection and Dynamic Security Monitoring and Control
(North China Electric Power University)㧘Ministry of Education, Beijing, 102206, China
Abstract-A good Black-Start scheme is important and necessary
to resume power supply fast and efficiently after black out, and
how to choose black-start power is the first thing to consider in the
scheme. In this paper, the advantages of VSC-HVDC as black start
power are analyzed. The ability of VSC-HVDC to soft energize
major power system equipment is proved through simulation by
software PSCAD/EMTDC. Simulation waveforms during soft
energization are illustrated. These plots have described the good
voltage and frequency characteristics of VSC-HVDC.
Furthermore, the transition from black start control to normal
power flow control is discussed. Simulation results indicate that by
using soft energization, VSC-HVDC is an ideal black start power.
Keywords: black start, HVDC, soft energizing, VSC-HVDC
I. INTRODUCTION
With the scale expansion of modern power system, power
system faults are becoming more and more complex, a fault in a
subsystem possibly gives rise to a fault of the whole network,
even a serious blackout, thus brings great influence on social
economy and people’s living and a lot loss. So, it is of great
importance to study on black start .
As for traditional black start, there are a lot of problems to be
considered in the restoration of power system after black out,
such as: generator's self-excitation; continuing fundamental
frequency over voltage, switching surge and resonant over
voltage while switching on a long no-load line; ferromagnetic
resonance while charging transformer; the stability of voltage
and frequency and so on.
Black Start function of VSC-HVDC has already been tested in
American Eagle Pass project [1], there is very simple
introduction of black start in [1], and its emphasis point is
Back-to-Back Tie. Ref. [2] has done field test on the whole
process of black start using VSC-HVDC as black start source,
the results recorded demonstrate the excellent frequency and
voltage control performance. Ref. [3] has studied on “soft
start-up” long no-load line with VSC-HVDC, but it is limited to
soft starting-up long no-load line, soft starting-up other major
power system equipments is not mentioned. Based on [2] and
This work was supported in part by National Hi-Tech Research
Development Program ୄ2008AA05Z216୅.
嘋,((( 910
[3], soft energization method is adopted in this paper in order to
avoid high transient inrush current and high transient voltage
completely while energizing major power system equipments. A
contrast is also made between two methods (in [3] and this
paper) of soft start-up long no-load line using VSC-HVDC.
II. OPERATION MECHANISM AND BASE CONTROL
STRATEGY OF VSC-HVDC
Assume a two-level, six-pulse voltage source converter
(VSC) shown in Fig. 1 is• considered. The fundamental vector of
the AC bus voltage is U •S , and the fundamental• vector of the
VSC side AC voltage is U C , which lags behind U S an angle of
, and the converter reactance is X .
Fig. 1 Voltage source converter
If the harmonics is ignored, then
U SUC
P= sin δ (1)
X
U S (U S − U C cos δ )
Q= (2)
X
M (3)
UC = Ud
2
Where P and Q are the active and reactive power absorbed by
VSC respectively. From (1) and (2), it can be concluded that P
and Q can be controlled independently by  and UC. When pulse
width modulation (PWM) is adopted,  is the phase angle of the
fundamental component of modulation wave, and UC is
proportional to the modulation index M of PWM˄shown in (3).
So it is possible to control P and Q independently by  and M.
Fig. 2 is the phasor diagram of VSC under steady-state
operation and fundamental frequency condition [4]. From Fig.2,
VSC can operate in any quadrant of P-Q planar graph by
controlling M and ¥. For example, in the first quadrant, -90嘙<
¥<0嘙, it can be drawn from (1) and (2) that P<0 and Q<0, other
quadrants are the same sense. Thanks to the ability of VSC to
,3(0&
operate in four quadrants, VSC can adjust the power (either
active or reactive) in a wide range from absorption to generation
up to rated power of HVDC. Based on this, VSC can operate as
STATCOM that compensate reactive power of AC bus
dynamically, and stabilize AC bus voltage [5], [6].
then VSC1 will be blocked, after relay equipments for AC line
detect the fault, the AC breaker (B1, refer to Fig. 4) will be
opened, at this time the control strategy of VSC1 will change to
AC voltage control (refer to Fig. 5).

•
UC
•
US

•
UC
Fig. 4 Experimental Circuit of soft energization

Fig. 2 Phasor diagram of VSC under steady-state operation and fundamental

frequency condition
In a VSC based HVDC system, there are three basic control
modes for the VSC. a) Constant DC voltage control; b) Constant
DC current or active power control; c) Constant AC voltage
control. In mode a) and b), the reactive power sent to the AC
system by the VSC is also controlled [7]. In this paper, there will
be transition of control modes mentioned above for a VSC, this
is because the control modes during normal power flow is
different from that in black start. Details about the transition of
control modes will be discussed in the following.
III. CONTROL STRATEGY OF VSC-HVDC DURING DIFFERENT
OPERATION CONDITIONS
Fig.3 shows the experimental circuit of black start in a system
with VSC-HVDC, it is obtained by making some changes of the
four machine two regional systems in [8]. Some main
parameters of the circuit are: the working frequency is 60 HZ,
the rated voltage value of bus 5,6,7,9,10,11,12 is 230kV, the line
length between bus 5 and 6 id 180 km, bus 6 and 7 is 10 km, bus
6 and 12 is 200km. Other parameters are given with reference to
[8]. In Fig. 3, the system on the left side of VSC1 is Area1; the
system on the right side of VSC2 is Area 2. The tie-line between
two areas is VSC-HVDC, and its main parameters can be seen in
Table . The black out happens in Area1, VSC-HVDC,
functioned as “firewall”, prevents Area2 against outages
expanding and propagating [9].
Fig. 3 Experimental Circuit of black start study in a system with VSC–HVDC
During normal operation, VSC1 in Fig.3 adopts active and
reactive power control; VSC2 adopts DC voltage control and
reactive power control. When there is a black out in Area1, the
control and protection of VSC1 will identify the fault quickly,
In Fig. 5, VpuR is the magnitude of VSC1 side AC voltage
(p.u), Vref is the set value of VSC1 side AC voltage, and mr is
the modulation ratio of PWM.
Fig. 5 AC voltage controller diagram
IV. BLACK START EXPERIMENT
In [2], the restoration sequence is firstly controlling VSC1
side AC voltage to rated voltage, then closing breaker B1 (refer
to Fig. 4)to switch on the no load line, and then switching on the
transformer T1 and T3 in turn. When T3 is energized, the
auxiliary equipment of G1 can be switched on. After G1 reached
the synchronous, it can be synchronized connected to the island
grid at a proper time. In this process of black start, inrush current
and transient over voltage would happen by just simple
operation of switching on the breakers, and possibly cause
failure of restoration.
The method of soft starting-up the long no load line is adopted
in [3]. The method in [3] is switching B1 at a moment during the
ascending process of VSC1 side AC voltage.
In this paper, the restoration sequence is: firstly, the circuit
breaker B1 and B2 are closed, and then control VpuR increase
gradually from 0 to 1. The process is named soft energizing.
Steps afterwards are the same as mentioned above in [2]. Details
about simulation experiment are as follows.
A. Soft energizing the long no load line and transformer
Fig.6 shows the simulation of soft energizing the long no load
line and transformer. Plot 1 shows the frequency of system in
Area1. Plot 2 shows that VpuR (Vac represents) ascends from 0
to 1 along the appointed curve (Vacref represents), VpuR
reaches its rated value at 1s. Plot 3 shows the DC voltage (rated
56kV) of VSC2. Plot 4 and 5 show the active and reactive power
absorbed by VSC1. Plot 6 shows the voltage of the long no load
line, where Vlinebegin is the voltage of phase A at the start of
the line, and Vlineend is the voltage of phase B at the end of the
line. Plot 7 and 8 are Phase A currents of T1 and T3. Plot 9, 10,

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and 11 are obtained by zooming plot 6, 7, and 8.

Fig. 7 A comparison between two methods of soft start-up

B. switching on the auxiliary equipment of G1

Station transformer with power rating of approximately
100MVA was energized at 2s, and a load of 56MW and 14MVar
was switched simultaneously, the load represents auxiliary
equipment for G1, or called plant electric consumption.
Fig. 8 shows the recorded signals during this process. It can be
seen that the active power and reactive power absorbed by
VSC1 changed with the load switching, plot 4 and 5 show that
VSC1 provided the active and reactive power of the load. The
frequency was maintained at 60HZ from plot 1. A small
transient was initiated on the DC voltage, but it was maintained
at 56kV later, refer to plot 3. The AC voltage magnitude
experienced a small dip, but it was controlled to the reference
value quickly after the transient. Plot 7 and 8 show the currents
in T1 and 3, the inrush currents were not large however, and
disappeared soon.

Fig. 6 Soft energizing long no load line and transformer

It should be noticed that since VSC1 acted as a black start

source, there would be no problems about Generator's
Self-excitation. B1 and B2 were closed at the beginning, and
thanks to the ability of VSC1 to regulate VpuR ascend from 0 to
1 along the appointed curve, there were not any kinds of
over-voltage or inrush currents when energizing long no load
line and transformer. The AC current in plot 10 during the
steady state was not zero, this was due to high frequency filter.
The filter was connected in between B1 and VSC1 and it is not
included in Fig. 4.
Fig. 7 is a comparison between two methods of soft start-up.
Plot 1 is the method mentioned in [3], here, the long no load line
is switched at 0.6s when VpuR reaches 0.5. It can be seen that
there is switching surge on phase B at the end of the line. Plot 2
is the method in this paper, we can see that during the whole
process of energizing long no load line, there is not over voltage
or surge at all. So, soft start-up method presented in this paper is
a better one.
Fig. 8 Switching on the auxiliary equipment of G1

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C. Switching G1 into grid
G1 with power rating of 900MVA had been started up with
the help of auxiliary power supplied by VSC1 as described
above. At 3.8s, when the condition of unit synchronous
switching was satisfied, generator 1 was connected to the island
grid. Plot 4 in Fig. 9 shows that stable system performance was
obtained. The frequency of the AC voltage was also kept stable
close to 60HZ, refer to plot 1.
mode. The process of transition from black start control to
normal power flow control can be seen in Fig. 11, it happened at
3.08s. Here, reference time axis is different from that in steps
above, this is because we took snapshot during simulation in
PSCAD. It is obvious that the transition is satisfactory. The
step-test of active power at 5s (seen in plot 2) shows the control
mode has changed to power flow control which has superior
control effect.

Fig. 11 Transition from black start control to normal power flow control

Fig. 9 Synchronizing in G1 rated 900MVA

Definition of signals in Fig. 5-Fig. 8 is in Table Ċ.

D. Restoring part of load in Area 1

80MW and 5Mvar load, part of the original Load 7, was
switched at 5s. The frequency of AC voltage was excellent as
before. The process of switching G2 and restoring the rest load
is similar to C and D.
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, the black start policy including the control mode
adjusting of VSC-HVDC and proper sequence of restoration is
analyzed. The voltage and frequency control ability of
VSC-HVDC ensure the process of restoration of the black
system to be smoothly without inrush current and transient over
voltage. By contrast, a better soft start-up method is presented.
Using this method, the ability of VSC-HVDC to softly energize
major power system equipment is proved through simulation by
PSCAD/EMTDC. Simulation results indicate that VSC-HVDC
is an ideal black start power source.
VI. APPENDIX
TABBLE I
THE PARAMETER OF VSC-HVDC LINE

VSC-HVDC Parameters Value Unit

Voltage Source(L-L,RMS) 230 kV

Transformer Capacity 300 MVA

Transformer Wiring Group Y/

Fig. 10 Restoration of some load VSC1/VSC2
Transformer Rated Voltage 230/20 kV

E. Transition from black start control to normal power flow control Transformer Positive Sequence
0.1 pu
As shown in previous steps, the VSC-HVDC provides Leakage Reactance
excellent voltage and frequency control. Once all the
DC capacitor 5000 F
generations in the grid are restored and loads are connected, the
VSC HVDC can be switched to normal power control mode by DC Circuit DC resistance 2.98 
the operator. No transient should be noticed at mode switching, Length of DC Line 220 km
as the on-line measured active and reactive power will be used
PWM Carrier Wave Frequency 1980 HZ
as initial active and reactive power settings in the power control

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 TABBLE Ċ
DEFINITION OF SIGNAL IN FIG. 6 –FIG. 11
Signal name Definition Unit
f Frequency of system in Area 1 Hz
Normalized value of the AC side voltage
Vacref pu
reference of VSC1
Normalized value of the AC side voltage
Vac pu
of VSC 1
dcVoltagelnv DC voltage of VSC 2 side kV
Pvscshiji Active power absorbed by VSC 1 MW
Qvsc1shiji Reactive power absorbed by VSC 1 Mvar
Voltages of phases A at the start of the line
Vlinebegin kV
near Bus 5
Voltages of phases B at the end of the line
Vlineend kV
near Bus 5
Itranformer1 Phase A current of transformer T1 kA
Itranformer3 Phase A current of transformer T3 kA

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported in part by National Hi-Tech
Research Development Program. We authors give our deepest
gratitude to the program.

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