Advantages power electronics may provide as part of conceptual HVDC and AC transmission overlays to efficiently integrate large amounts of wind energy to the Eastern Interconnection

The present transmission system was not designed to work efficiently as a means of delivering large amounts of renewable energy. Large amounts of wind energy and the RTO energy markets have increased the need for transmission to deliver energy off peak and improve the efficiency of the energy markets. Papers and reports have been written that describe the use of generation optimization and power system economic simulation programs (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10) to efficiently design transmission systems that would deliver energy economically. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the possible physical characteristics of an overlay containing multiple HVDC lines that could improve the operation of the future power systems and simplify the transmission design process.