Detailed and averaged models for a 401-level MMC-HVDC system

Summary form only given. Voltage Source Converter (VSC) technologies present a bright opportunity in a variety of fields within the power system industry. New Modular Multilevel Converters (MMCs) are expected to supersede two- and three-level VSC-based technologies for HVDC applications due to their recognized advantages in terms of scalability, performance and efficiency. Computational burden introduced by detailed modeling of MMC-HVDC systems in EMT-type programs complicates the study of transients especially when such systems are integrated into a large network. This paper presents a novel average-value model (AVM) for efficient and accurate representation of a detailed MMC-HVDC system. It also develops a detailed 401-level MMC-HVDC model for validating the AVM and studies the performance of both models when integrated into a large 400 kV transmission system in Europe. The results show that the AVM is significantly more efficient while maintaining its accuracy for the dynamic response of the overall system.