Modern Power Systems - BRIC Edition

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The 21st century energy revolution

The late 20th century saw the beginning of the environmental revolution, now the early 21st century is tackling the next big challenge: environmentally efficient energy. Energy generated by wind, waves and sunlight could provide solutions, but often power is produced far away from the point of consumption. Utilities need to find improved means of transporting energy after it is generated.
The energy challenges of the 20th century involved building power plants, connecting cities and remote rural areas. The industrial revolution had changed the way of life on all continents, bringing more and more people into urban centres and creating a high demand for electricity to run machines, urban transportation, offices and homes. Environmental concerns took a back seat to meeting consumer energy needs; there was an infinite source of fossil fuels of all kinds and pollution was not an issue. Global energy issues have evolved. The late 20th century witnessed the beginning of the environmental revolution. The early 21st century is now concerned with environmentally efficient energy. Renewable energies such as wind, hydro and solar require harnessing and are often far away from their point of consumption. Utilities have to find improved means of producing energy. High Voltage Alternating Current (HVAC) transmission (above 380kV) made it possible to build major power generating facilities far away from cities, whether they were thermal (coal, natural gas, fuel), hydro or more recently nuclear. Even so, transmission lines, due to their very nature, are not perfect and incur energy losses along the way. AC transmission lines and equipment were designed to move energy. New research and development programmes have led to equipment innovations that improve AC power transmission, reducing power losses, which ultimately reduce generation costs. These Flexible Alternating Current Transmission Systems (FACTS) can be compared to poles holding up a heavilyloaded laundry line; they support transmission systems by injecting reactive power into the system at key points along the transmission line from point A to point B. www.growthmarkets-power.com FACTS are one of the solutions being added into electricity networks around the world to support aging long-distance transmission systems. The addition of Static VAr Compensation (SVC) is cost-effective and offers a very quick return-on-investment. It improves the power quality, thus more energy is transmitted and less is lost. It does not involve extensive construction permits or widened right-of-ways. They are a logical upgrade solution for improving existing AC networks that do not yet require replacement. Direct action In the US, where the transmission network is badly in need of upgrading, many major utilities are investing in FACTS solutions until investment funds can be appointed to rebuild and upgrade the networks. The North American AC grid is extensive but subject to faults. FACTS help mitigate the problem but a better transmission and interconnection means is being put in practice: high voltage direct current (HVDC). The two principle types of HVDC are: Back-to-back schemes, HVDC connections between two or more AC systems, can link two asychronous AC networks (where the frequencies are different, for example 50Hz vs 60Hz). By adding HVDC, these networks can now trade energy across regional, country or even bodies of water. Direct current in general can be controlled because it is a constant flow instead of a pulsed alternating current; controlled energy means no blackouts. HVDC is a firewall against faults. In cascading AC faults, an HVDC interconnection stops propagation. Point-to-point schemes connect load centres (consumers) to distant generation plants. For long-distance transmission schemes, HVDC has dramatically reduced losses compared with classic AC transmission, often offering improved energy delivery of up to 40%. For transmission schemes with distances longer than 700km, HVDC is more economical. This means that, for accessing hydro power, for example often very far away from consumer load centers large HVDC schemes are the ideal situation.

Image 1 Large HVDC schemes can easily transmit up to 6,400MW of power in less space than HVAC. The right-of-ways necessary for the transmission lines and pylons are expensive and difficult to install in heavily populated regions. By switching from AC to DC and increasing power flow, utilities can very easily meet the industrial and consumer energy demands thanks to this type of upgrade.

Transmit high power over long distances

Losses on the line

AC

Initial power

Remaining power

Losses on the line

HVDC

Initial power

Remaining power

Capitalised losses reduced by at least 30-40%

Modern Power Systems | BRIC Edition | p. 33