Comparison of HVDC Light (VSC) and HVDC Classic (LCC) site aspects, for a 500MW 400kV HVDC transmission scheme

This paper compares the site aspects of a Voltage-Sourced Converter (VSC-HVDC) project and a Line-Commutated Converter (LCC-HVDC) project of similar rating. Initially a brief description of the two technologies is presented. Then the project information for the EWIC (Shotton) and Grita (Galatina) sites is provided. Next, a comparison of the overall sites and converter buildings is given. This considers footprint, as well as building height and volume. Finally a comparison is made using the latest cascaded two-level (CTL) technology, against both the two-level technology used at EWIC and the LCC-HVDC technology used at Galatina.