Advantageous positions for HVDC terminals in Europe

A rising penetration of renewable energies and the resulting changes in the generation system render extensive grid reinforcements throughout Europe inevitable. Up till now grid reinforcements are mostly done using HVAC technology but for future extensions as for example in Germany HVDC technology is on the rise. To optimally integrate these future HVDC links into the existing AC networks the terminal positions have to be chosen wisely to mitigate grid congestions. This paper presents an approach to identify optimal terminal positions based on two technical criterions. To demonstrate the effectiveness the presented methodology is applied on a European grid model in a prospective scenario for the year 2022.