A medium voltage hybrid AC/DC distribution network and its economic evaluation

There are limited spaces for the fast increasing, highly concentrated loads in urban distribution networks. This paper proposes a medium voltage hybrid AC/DC distribution network, in which some AC lines are converted to DC ones, and interconnected with voltage source converter (VSC). A control strategy is also established to increase transfer capacity and DG accommodation. The economic evaluation indexes of proposed hybrid AC/DC distribution networks are developed considering uncertainty of distributed generations (DGs) and loads. The benefits of the hybrid AC/DC distribution networks, including DG accommodation, transfer capacity, service life of existing conducts, reduction of reactive power investment, reliability and losses, are quantified. A specific cost of hybrid AC/DC distribution networks is provided.