Optimizing HVDC transmission for large-scale wind power base in China

The wind power plan in China is introduced, and the planned seven wind power bases each with an installed capacity of more than 10,000 MW will be completed till 2020. The characteristics of wind power base makes transmitting wind power through high-voltage transmission line to be an inevitable trend. Due to many advantages of HVDC, HVDC will be more suitable for transmitting large-scale variable wind power over long-distance. This paper proposes a methodology for optimizing the capacity of HVDC for delivering wind power is presented. Based on the characteristics of wind power base, we examine the relative costs and transmission benefits of combining thermal units and large-scale wind power, which are transmitted through a transmission line together. The results show that the optimal transmission capacity can improve significantly the delivering benefits. The effectiveness of the optimal approach has been tested by numerical examples.