Preliminary study of an HVDC transmission network in Spain

In the past few years, there has been a concerted effort to move towards renewable energy sources and reduce dependence on fossil fuels in electricity production. This transition poses a significant contemporary challenge, especially given that many power plants currently rely on synchronous generat...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Bárzana Gonzalez, Jaime
Tipo de recurso: tesis de maestría
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/411819
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/411819
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Electric power transmission--Direct current
Electric power distribution--High tension
Energia elèctrica--Transmissió--Corrent continu
Energia elèctrica--Distribució--Alta tensió
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria elèctrica
Descripción
Sumario:In the past few years, there has been a concerted effort to move towards renewable energy sources and reduce dependence on fossil fuels in electricity production. This transition poses a significant contemporary challenge, especially given that many power plants currently rely on synchronous generators, whose inertia provides system stability. To mitigate the effects of instability associated with decarbonization, several solutions, known as FACTS have been implemented. These devices allow greater control of the grid, making it more flexible and adaptable. In addition, the goal is to create a strong, interconnected continental grid, and one way to achieve this is through direct current power transmission, known as HVDC. HVDC transmission offers several advantages over the traditional alternating current (HVAC) variant; these include the ability to interconnect networks with different frequencies or greater energy efficiency. However, HVDC technology has a disadvantage: it is often an expensive technology as it requires power electronics-based equipment, with a limited market. Investment in this type of technology is a goal of international organizations to provide a resilient grid and to allow the integration of renewables. In this work, a technical analysis of the current interconnection with France in the transmission grid will be carried out, locating its weaknesses and proposing two improvement scenarios; firstly, it will be seen how the HVDC technology impacts on the interconnection with France, assessing aspects such as transmitted power flows, transmission efficiency and the potential advantages that it may have over the HVAC variant, which will also be analyzed in depth. All this will have an economic study in which the feasibility of the project and which is the most appropriate alternative to implement will be assessed.