HVDC – VSC system

Training in New York, USA

About

Introduction

Supported by ambitious climate objectives, HVDC-VSC technology is playing an increasingly important role in current and future energy transmission systems. VSC technology is crucial in its contribution to the energy transition as it provides new opportunities for more and more interconnected energy markets. However, the technology is developing rapidly, and the complexity of these projects requires detailed engineering expertise. Therefore, the objective of the 5-day training course is to introduce the participants to the principles and challenges of HVDC-VSC technology and to present basic methodologies and technical hands-on experience for VSC projects.

Topics Covered

The training course, organized in close collaboration with EMTP and RTE international, covers the following topics:

  • Introduction to VSC-MMC technology
  • Modelling and simulation of HVDC-VSC systems with EMTP
  • Control and protection of VSC-MMC stations
  • Specifications of HVDC-VSC projects
  • Maintenance of HVDC converter

Intended Audience

This course is intended for engineers, researchers, operators, and maintenance personnel who work or are planning to work on HVDC projects and would like to gain a deeper understanding of the technology. It provides up-to-date technical expertise on HVDC-VSC projects. This course is also an opportunity to meet and share with experts and colleagues who work in the HVDC field. Thank you for understanding that the number of participants will be limited.

Training Course Structure

The duration of the training course is 5 days (Mon-Fri). The training starts at 9:00 am and ends at 5:00 pm every day (except on Friday). Lunch breaks are planned from noon to 1:00 pm, the cost of which are included in the course fees.

A group dinner for participants and trainers is planned for Thursday.

Training presentations and supporting materials will be provided.

Licenses

Temporary EMTP licenses will be provided to the audience. EMTP will be used to illustrate models and concepts and evaluate the performances of HVDC-VSC systems.

Procedure

Date

April 22 to 26, 2024

Duration

5 days

Fees

3850 USD (pre-payment)

Discount for students and academia upon request

Conditions

Conditions and terms of RTE international apply. Number of participants from each company limited to ensure a diverse group of participants.

Type of training

Classroom training. A training certificate will be provided at the end of the course for all attendees.

Location

123 Main Street, White Plains, New York, USA

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Trainers

Markus Vor dem Berge

Markus Vor dem Berge

Director of Power Electronics and Studies

Markus Vor dem Berge is the director of the Power Electronics and Studies service line. He joined RTE international in 2020.

Markus previously worked at Siemens AG as a system design engineer on HVDC PLUS technology. In particular, he led the works on several HVDC VSC projects as sub-project manager in Europe. He was also the technical project manager for VSC Bipole 2000 MW, ±525 kV for onshore and offshore applications.

Markus has a Master’s in electrical engineering, electronics and communication technology and energy engineering from Aachen University.

Sébastien Dennetière

Sébastien Dennetière

HVDC Expert & Technical Senior Advisor at RTE international

Sébastien Dennetière has a decade of experience in HVDC matters and almost two decades of experience in electrical engineering. His expertise support on HVDC projects can range from planning to maintenance. He contributes to several professional organisations, such as CIGRE, IEEE, and IEC.

In January 2010, he joined the French TSO RTE (Réseau de Transport d’Electricité) where he is currently involved in power system simulation and HVDC projects as a technical expert. One of his main tasks is to integrate HVDC/FACTS equipment to the French grid. He oversees the technical coordination of studies performed for HVDC integration in France and abroad. He was responsible for the development of detailed HVDC and wind turbines models in Uruguay and in the development of specifications for coordination of the 2 HVDC systems in Norway for the project “Equinor Johan Sverdrup VSC multivendor interoperability”.

From 2004 to 2008 he worked at the research center of EDF in the field of insulation coordination and power system simulations. From 2002 to 2004 he worked at IREQ (Hydro-Québec) on research and development activities related to the simulation and analysis of electromagnetic transients.

Sébastien Dennetière graduated from the École Supérieure d’Electricité (Supélec) France in 2002. He received his M.Sc. degree and PhD degree from the École Polytechnique de Montréal in 2003 and 2017, respectively.

Pierre Rault

Pierre Rault

HVDC Expert at RTE international

Pierre Rault has a decade of experience in HVDC matters and has supported numerous related projects. His expertise has led him to participate in working groups in charge of setting standards in the HDVC field.

He is a Power System Expert Engineer in RTE international since 2018, working mainly for the EQUINOR Johan Sverdrup project. In this position, he is involved in the coordination control philosophy of the two HVDCs links of the project. He follows replica installation and commissioning. In addition, he performs and analyses parallel tests with control replicas.

At the same time, he is the secretary of CIGRE WG B4.70: “Guide for Electromagnetic Transient Studies involving VSC converters” and member of CIGRE B4-58: “Control Methodologies For Direct Voltage And Power Flow In A Meshed HVDC Grid”. Furthermore, he is the French representant in the committees TC8 / TC22 / TC115, where he follows and reviews new standards related to VSC-HVDC. Similarly, he is a member of TC115 – WG15 – Functional Specifications for HVDC Grid Systems.

Pierre Rault has been studying and dealing with with HVDC topics since his PhD on Multiterminal VSC-HVDC grid control strategies. Beforehand, he worked at GIE IDEA (EDF/Schneider Electric/G2Lab) on wind farm connection. He was in charge of the necessary requirements and thus reviewed grid codes compliance criteria. Moreover, he developed a methodology for wind farm reactive power management.   

Pierre Rault has good proficiency in English. He holds a PhD from Ecole Centrale de Lille, France and a Master’s degree from the Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble, France.

Hani Saad

Hani Saad

Senior HVDC Expert at RTE international

Hani Saad (S’07) received his B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the Polytechnique of Montréal in 2007 and 2015, respectively. In 2015, he received the best Ph.D. thesis award from Polytechnic of Montreal. He has been working in the field of HVDC and renewable energy integration for more than 11 years with RTE (French TSO) and 5 years with RTE international. He is involved in the world’s largest HVDC-VSC systems, EMT studies and grid codes. Since 2022, he is working as an independent consultant to support different stakeholders in the field of HVDC and grid integration of renewable energy systems. He is an active member in several expert groups such as IEEE Task forces, ENTSOE EG and Cigré working groups and the convenor of Cigré B4-84 related to integration of energy storage in HDVC systems. Since  2022, he is the French representative of Cigré National Committee B4.

Thanks to his extensive experience on HVDC matters, he is member of several Cigré working groups on HVDC, such as “Application guide for the insulation coordination of Voltage Source Converter HVDC (VSC HVDC) stations” and “AC Fault response options for VSC HVDC Converters”. He has contributed and published several articles on power electronics and power delivery, notably in the Wiley IEEE book. He gave conference related HVDC field and EMT-type tool and is a regular reviewer for IEEE Transactions of Power Delivery, Industrial Electronics.

Marco Schudel

Marco Schudel

Power Electronics Engineer

Marco Schudel is a power electronics engineer with a wide range of experience in the electricity sector, mainly focused on technical coordination and project management. Currently employed at RTE Réseau de Transport d’Electricité for ten years, Marco holds the position of power electronics project engineer. His responsibilities include the technical coordination of experts for HVDC converter stations, participation in procurement processes, including bid analysis, evaluation and technical negotiation. He has also carried out real-time and off-line electromagnetic transient studies and participated in some commissioning stages.

Marco also worked formerly on market design and modelling, as well as load flow studies, which gives him a systemic view of the grid and its assets.

With a strong background in technical coordination, project management and modelling, Marco brings valuable expertise as a trainer, providing participants with an in-depth insight into the technical challenges and best practices in power electronics and energy project management.

Samy Akkari

Samy Akkari

HVDC expert at RTE

Samy Akkari graduated from Ecole Normale Supérieure of Cachan in applied physics and Electrical Engineering where he undertook a double master degree with Polytechnique on renewable energies and power grids. He then pushed on with a doctorate with CentraleSupélec, in collaboration with Centrale Lille, on the feasibility and control of HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) multi-terminal electrical networks.

He is now the Asset Manager for RTE HVDC links at the National Center for Grid Expertise. He also works on the Operation & Maintenance of the INELFE link (2x1GW VSC-MMC, Siemens) and IFA2 link (1GW VSC-CTL, ABB). Finally, he is involved in the Technical Specification of future HVDC projects such as Biscay Bay and CELTIC.

Jean Mahseredjian

Jean Mahseredjian

CEO PGSTech, Professor Polytechnique Montreal, PhD, IEEE Fellow

Jean Mahseredjian received his Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Polytechnique Montréal, Canada, in 1991. From 1987 to 2004, he was with IREQ (Hydro-Québec) working on research and development activities related to the simulation and analysis of electromagnetic transients. In December 2004, he joined the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Polytechnique Montréal. He was named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 2013 for his contributions to the computation and modeling of power system transients. Jean Mahseredjian is the creator and lead developer of EMTP®. Jean Mahseredjian brings with him more than 30 years of research and development experience on power system transients.
Henry Gras

Henry Gras

Director of operations at PGSTech

He oversees engineering, development, and sales activities. He has advanced expertise in power system transients, including renewable energy models, integration of renewable energies, control systems, insulation coordination, protection, microgrids and transient stability. Henry Gras has delivered numerous international courses on various topics related to power system transients. Henry Gras has a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Polytechnique Montreal and a bachelor’s degree from Ecole Centrale de Lyon.

Preliminary

Day 1 – Introduction and HVDC technology basics

Please note, this day is open without payment. Registration is nevertheless required. The number of participants will be limited. 

9.00 – 12.00 

  1. Introduction, training overview and RTEi’s HVDC expertise 
  2. Introduction to HVDC technology 
  3. HVDC MMC station main equipment description
  4. Q&A

12.00 – 13.00 Lunch 

13.00 – 16.00 

  1. Basics of Power Electronics in EMT – Introduction to EMTP
  2. Setup of EMTP and introductory session
  3. How to use EMTP and use cases (supported by RTEi)
  4. Q&A

16.00 – 18.00: Get together 

Day 2 – Project management and specification of HVDC projects

9.00 – 12.00 

  1. Basic Design approach
  2. Intro to levelized costs and project dimensions
  3. Tender Principles
  4. Technical Specifications
  5. Q&A

12.00 – 13.00 Lunch 

13.00 – 17.00 

  1. Project Execution
  2. Q&A

Day 3 – HVDC converter design, introduction to C&P aspects and EMT studies

9:00– 12.00 

  1. Overview of HVDC technology – evolution, key drivers and challenges
  2. HVDC VSC: Development and R&D
  3. HVDC converter design principles
  4. Q&A

12.00 – 13.00 Lunch 

13.00 – 17.00 

  1. Introduction to HVDC control and architecture
  2. General description of VSC controls
  3. Specific upper-level and low-level controls for MMC converters
  4. Description of Grid Connected and Grid Forming control
  5. EMTP: Use cases of grid forming converters – practical examples
  6. Q&A

Day 4 – HVDC-VSC design studies and Control and Protection aspects / Evening: dinner

9.00 – 12.00 

  1. HVDC system design studies
  2. General overview of converter protection strategy and implementation in real systems
  3. HVDC-VSC behavior during AC fault events (balanced and unbalanced conditions)
  4. DC side transients analysis of typical DC faults: pole-to-ground and one-phase- to-ground faults
  5. Q&A

12.00 – 13.00 Lunch 

13.00 – 17.00 

  1. Introduction to transients during start-up and shut-down sequences
  2. EMT studies for the design and operation HVDC system
  3. Q&A 

 

Evening: Group dinner 

 

Day 5 – Maintenance of HVDC-VSC systems and integration in AC grids and final Q&A session

09.00 – 12.00 

  1. Introduction to the maintenance principles of HVDC-VSC systems
  2. O&M Team Structure, Roles and Responsibilities, and Required Infrastructure, Facilities and Systems to Support O&M Activities
  3. Maintenance of HVDC-VSC converter stations, focus on HVDC specifics: Power electronics, auxiliary systems (cooling, climate) and controls

12.00 – 13.00 Lunch 

13.00 – 16:00 (approx.) 

  1. Maintenance specifications, spare parts
  2. Maintenance experiences and recommendations
  3. Introduction to practical experience using replica
  4. Real Time Simulation Studies Introduction
  5. Outlook on EMT simulation 
  6. Closing / Feedback / Q&A

 

 

Backup: Depending on the progress of the course throughout the previous days, individual topics can be picked up and continued during the afternoon session 

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