Refurbish Rather Than Replace: Resuscitating Aging HVdc and FACTS Projects

摘要

It is hard to imagine today?s global-scale power grids without power electronics technology as it plays such an enormous role in controlling the flow of power and keeping the grid stable. In a world where electric utilities strive to wring every last watt out of the infrastructure by driving their systems beyond normal limits, they need the edge this technology gives them. It?s a world where utilities are being urged to increase the capacity of their existing infrastructure efficiently, and power electronics has been helping with that goal for decades. That?s correct, high-voltage dc (HVdc) transmission systems and flexible ac transmission system (FACTS) controllers have been playing a significant reliability role on the grid for a very long time. So long, in fact, that many of these electronic wonders have reached the end of their service lives or are rapidly approaching that point.