IDeCON Consortium Tackles HVDC Grid Design and Control Issues

Researchers from Norway, the United Kingdom and Spain have formed a consortium dubbed IDeCON to combat technical barriers currently hampering the practical deployment of High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) grids in the North Sea needed to exploit the potential of the wind resource.

The project is being led by Prof Elisabetta Tedeschi of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). In addition to NTNU, Spain’s Tecnalia, the University of Nottingham, and DNV GL are participating in the project. IDeCON has funding from the Norwegian Research Council and DNV GL.

To exploit offshore wind energy, an efficient means of transport or “evacuation” of generated electrical power all the way to the coast is as important as actually producing it. The transmission of HVDC electrical energy cuts losses in long-distance transmissions and allows the instant control of the output and quality of the energy to be made, Tecnalia said in a statement.

The consortium is conducting research in the area of the design and control of offshore HVDC grids.

The project has a dual aim: firstly, to create a methodology to design the topological structure of the electrical grid that will minimise the risk of harmful interactions between the various components of offshore electrical power grids.

Secondly, a set of stability requirements of the grid are being analysed and generated. As an appendix to the grid codes, they will ensure that the system functions in the way intended as it is interconnected with technologies of various providers. This is expected to minimise the possibilities of costly interruptions in the operating of the system, according to Tecnalia.