Reliability assessment of interconnected power systems with HVDC links considering frequency regulation process

Abstract

With various components and complex topologies, the applications of high-voltage direct current (HVDC) links bring new challenges to the interconnected power systems in the aspect of frequency security, which further influence their reliability performances. Consequently, this paper presents an approach to evaluate the impacts of the HVDC link outage on the reliability of interconnected power system considering the frequency regulation process during system contingencies. Firstly, a multi-state model of an HVDC link with different available loading rates (ALRs) is established based on its reliability network. Then, dynamic frequency response models of the inter- connected power system are presented and integrated with a novel frequency regulation scheme enabled by the HVDC link. The proposed scheme exploits the temporary overload capability of normal converters to compensate for the imbalanced power during system contingencies. Moreover, it offers frequency support that enables the frequency regulation reserves of the sending-end and receiving-end power systems to be mutually available. Several indices are established to measure the system reliability based on the given models in terms of abnormal frequency duration, frequency deviation, and energy losses of the frequency regulation process during system contingencies. Finally, a modified two-area reliability test system (RTS) with an HVDC link is adopted to verify the proposed approach.