Comparison of the modular multilevel dc converter and the dual active bridge converter for power conversion in hvdc and mvdc grids
1. COMPARISON OF THE MODULAR MULTILEVEL DC CONVERTER AND THE
DUAL-ACTIVE BRIDGE CONVERTER FOR POWER CONVERSION IN HVDC AND
MVDC GRIDS
ABSTRACT
It is expected that in the near future the use of high voltage dc (HVDC) transmission and
medium-voltage dc (MVDC) distribution technology will expand. This development is driven
by the growing share of electrical power generation by renewable energy sources that are located
far from load centers and the increased use of distributed power generators in the distribution
grid. Power converters that transfer the electric energy between voltage levels and control the
power flow in dc grids will be key components in these systems. The recently presented modular
multilevel dc converter (M2DC) and the three-phase dual-active bridge converter (DAB) are
benchmarked for this task. Three scenarios are examined: a 15 MW converter for power
conversion from an HVDC grid to an MVDC grid of a university campus, a giga watt converter
for feeding the energy from an MVDC collector grid of a wind farm into the HVDC grid, and a
converter that acts as a power controller between two HVDC grids with the same nominal
voltage level. The operation and degrees of freedom of the M2DC are investigated in detail
aiming for an optimal design of this converter. The M2DC and the DAB converter are
thoroughly compared for the given scenarios in terms of efficiency, amount of semiconductor
devices, and expense on capacitive storage and magnetic components.