Potential benefits of decoupling the Scotland-England network using VSC-HVDC

This paper investigates the potential benefits of reinforcing the connection between Scotland and England with two parallel VSC-HVDC lines to facilitate the transmission of large-power from Scotland down to the major load centres in England. The possibility of controlling both systems (e.g. the Scottish and the English networks) independently is explored. The VSC-HVDC transmission system is selected for this study due to its inherent features such as its ability for power flow control and operation at practically any point regardless of the system strength and reactive power capability. The focus of the work is mainly on provision of ancillaries services such as voltage and frequency support, and fault ride-though capability.