Diode-rectifier-based high voltage dc (DR-HVdc) systems can be a promising low-cost solution for exporting wind power from remote offshore wind farms to onshore power systems. Industrializing the offshore DR-HVdc requires technical maturation, achievable through in-depth studies and pilot experiments. Deployment of offshore DR-HVdc systems may entail a fundamental change of control philosophy in wind turbine (WT) converters from grid-following control to grid-forming. This paper proposes a new grid-forming control for DR-connected offshore WT converters. The proposed controller uses two sequential control loops to regulate WTs' active power, and maintain the frequency and voltage of the offshore ac network. The first control regulates the active-power mismatch of each WT into a voltage angle deviation, which leads to a frequency change. The second control adjusts the WT's alternating voltage magnitude to counteract the frequency change. An internal current control loop is used to limit the fault current and eliminate high-frequency resonances in the system. The proposed control is verified by electromagnetic transient simulations, including fault-ride through, WTs power change, reactive power disturbance, and WTs outage.

In recent years, renewable energy sources have been integrated on a large scale in power systems all around the world to address the environmental sustainability concerns. With conventional thermal generators being phased out, large offshore wind power plants present a viable alternative to provide blackstart services for power system restoration. By means of simulations, grid‐forming wind turbines are shown to successfully energize the offshore transformer and the high‐voltage direct current (HVDC) export link in a controlled manner, to ultimately supply onshore block load. Two methods for energizing the offshore network have been compared: the prevalent hard‐switching approach and the more complex soft‐start method. Additionally, control has been implemented to mitigate the significant transients in the export link associated with pre‐charging of the onshore converter. It is shown that soft‐start can provide faster energization with smaller transients compared to hard‐switching. Moreover, the sensitivity analyses performed in this study illustrate the impact of pre‐insertion resistor and voltage ramp‐up rates on transients during hard‐switching and soft‐start, respectively. The results presented also show that grid‐forming wind power plants can deal with controlled pre‐charging of the onshore converter from its DC terminals that is essential for the safe energization and operation of the export link.

Before diode rectifier (DR) technology for connecting offshore wind farms (OWFs) to HVdc is deployed, in-depth studies are needed to assess the actual capabilities of DR-connected OWFs to contribute to the secure operation of the networks linked to them. This study assesses the capability of such an OWF to provide communication-less frequency support (CLFS) to an onshore ac network. It is shown that the HVdc link's offshore terminal direct voltage can be estimated from measurements at the OWF's point of connection with the DR platform. Two different methods are proposed for implementing CLFS in the OWF active power controls. In Method 1, the estimated offshore terminal direct voltage is used for estimating the onshore frequency deviation. In Method 2, the actual offshore terminal direct voltage measurement is used instead. Unique features of the provision of CLFS from OWFs connected to HVdc via DRs are highlighted, and the dynamic and static performance of the CLFS control scheme is compared to that of the communication-based frequency support scheme. To assess the impact of parameter estimation errors on the provision of CLFS, a parametric sensitivity study is presented as well, and recommendations are given to increase accuracy.

As the size and distance from shore of new offshore wind power plants (OWPPs) increase, connection to shore using high-voltage (HV) direct-current (DC) technology becomes more cost-effective. Currently, every offshore wind power plant has a collection system based on medium-voltage alternating-current technology. Such systems rely on heavy and bulky low-frequency (i.e., 50 or 60 Hz) transformers: a drawback offshore, where equipment weight and space are restricted. Consequently, there is growing interest in medium-voltage direct-current collection systems, in which low-frequency transformers are replaced with DC/DC converters equipped with lighter and smaller medium-frequency transformers. However, the deployment of all-DC OWPPs still faces several challenges. Based on a very comprehensive and critical literature review, three of them are identified and discussed in this paper. The first challenge is the technological gap at component level. In this work, the DC/DC converter topologies most suitable for application to OWPPs are described and compared. The second challenge is the controllability of DC collection systems. Parallel, series and hybrid DC collection system layouts are presented and discussed. The third challenge is the compliance of all-DC OWPPs with current requirements for their connection to the onshore grids. The three challenges are discussed to highlight current research gaps and potential future directions.

The current practice of power system restoration mainly relies on conventional power plants, which can provide black start in case of a black out using fossil fuels. HVdc-connected offshore wind power plants can, on the other hand, provide fast and environmentally friendly solutions for power system restoration, once their state of the art wind turbines are equipped with the grid-forming capability. In this paper, the background and existing solutions for wind turbine and wind power plant self-energization and onshore grid black start are presented, together with simulation results of an offshore wind power plant sequentially energizing the offshore ac network, offshore HVdc terminal, HVdc link, onshore HVdc terminal, and onshore ac terminal and load.

In the quest of improving the frequency response capability of wind turbines, control solutions trying to emulate synchronous machines have been proposed. While their performance in terms of frequency support is relatively good, they may trigger torsional oscillations, cause fatigue and damage in the drivetrain, and reduce its lifetime. In this paper, the torsional oscillations caused by a virtual synchronous machine (VSM)‐based frequency controller are illustrated, and methods for damping them are introduced. Two torsional oscillation damping methods are compared and combined to derive an improved method. Dynamic simulation results show better damping performance from the combined damping method.