Modular multilevel converter control with using a general space vector PWM method in medium voltage hydro power application

This paper studies a generalized space vector PWM (SVPWM) method for modulating the modular mul-tilevel converter (MMC) for a medium voltage hydropower application. In addition to the modulation of the MMC, the circulating current control and the submodule capacitor voltage balancing are included in the study. The simulation and experimental results show the feasibility of using the generalized SVPWM method for controlling the MMC. Furthermore, the loss study shows that the switching loss in the MMC can be reduced with 28% when a modification of the generalized SVPWM method is utilized, thus, the total efficiency of the converter can be increased.