ORNL/TM-2005/230 POWER ELECTRONICS FOR DISTRIBUTED ENERGY SYSTEMS AND TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION APPLICATIONS L. M. Tolbert T. J. King B. Ozpineci J. B. Campbell G. Muralidharan D. T. Rizy A. S. Sabau H. Zhang* W. Zhang* Y. Xu* H. F. Huq* H. Liu* December 2005 *The University of Tennessee-Knoxville ORNL/TM-2005/230 Engineering Science and Technology Division POWER ELECTRONICS FOR DISTRIBUTED ENERGY SYSTEMS AND TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION APPLICATIONS L. M. Tolbert T. J. King B. Ozpineci J. B. Campbell G. Muralidharan D. T. Rizy A. S. Sabau H. Zhang W. Zhang Y. Xu H. F. Huq H. Liu Publication Date: December 2005 Prepared by the OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831 managed by UT-BATTELLE, LLC for the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 DOCUMENT AVAILABILITY Reports produced after January 1, 1996, are generally available free via the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Information Bridge. Web site http://www.osti.gov/bridge Not available externally. Reports are available to DOE employees, DOE contractors, Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDE) representatives, and International Nuclear Information System (INIS) representatives from the following source. Office of Scientific and Technical Information P.O. Box 62 Oak Ridge, TN 37831 Telephone 865-576-8401 Fax 865-576-5728 E-mail [email protected] Web site http://www.osti.gov/contact.html This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. CONTENTS Page TABLES………………………………………………………………………........................... vii FIGURES……………………………………………………………………. ............................ vii ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS…………………………………… ............................ xi EXECUTIVE SUMMARY…………………………………………………………….............. xiv 1. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………… ......... 1-1 1.1 What is Power Electronics?......................................................................................... 1-1 1.2 What Are the Applications for Power Electronics Devices?....................................... 1-1 1.3 Power Electronics Today and Tomorrow.................................................................... 1-1 1.4 Power Electronics Benefits to Transmission and Distribution and to Distributed Energy................................................................................................... 1-3 1.5 Technical Challenges Facing Power Electronics......................................................... 1-4 1.6 Role for Government Support ..................................................................................... 1-5 1.7 DOE Cross-Cut Areas ................................................................................................. 1-5 1.8 Other Agencies Funding Power Electronics................................................................ 1-5 1.9 Organization of Report ................................................................................................ 1-6 2. UTILITY APPLICATIONS OF POWER ELECTRONICS................................................. 2-1 2.1 Power System Constraints........................................................................................... 2-1 2.2 FACTs: Building Tomorrow’s Grid within Today’s Footprint? ................................. 2-1 2.2.1 Comparison of Traditional Solutions and FACTS Solutions ......................... 2-2 2.2.2 Limitations and Technical Challenges............................................................ 2-5 2.2.3 Investment Costs of FACTS Devices............................................................. 2-6 2.2.4 Organizations Performing Research and Development on FACTS Devices ........................................................................................................... 2-8 2.3 High-voltage Direct Current........................................................................................ 2-9 2.3.1 High-Voltage Direct-Current History .............................................................2-10 2.3.2 Three Different Categories of High-Voltage Direct-Current Transmissions..................................................................................................2-10 2.3.3 Advantages of High-Voltage Direct Current for System Interconnection................................................................................................2-12 2.4 FACTS and High-Voltage Direct Current Systems Benefits Summary......................2-13 2.4.1 Future Development in FACTS ......................................................................2-14 2.4.2 Future Developments in High-Voltage Direct Current ...................................2-15 2.5 Multilevel Inverters .....................................................................................................2-16 3. POWER ELECTRONICS INTERFACE FOR DISTRIBUTED ENERGY SYSTEMS............................................................................................................................. 3-1 3.1 Technical Challenges................................................................................................... 3-2 3.2 Distribution System Design......................................................................................... 3-2 3.3 Current Standards ........................................................................................................ 3-2 3.4 Economic Challenges .................................................................................................. 3-3 3.5 Analysis Challenges .................................................................................................... 3-3 3.6 DER Systems Reliability............................................................................................. 3-4 3.7 Dynamic and Local Regulation ................................................................................... 3-4 iii 3.8 Provision of Ancillary Services................................................................................... 3-4 3.9 Recommendations ....................................................................................................... 3-5 4. SILICON POWER ELECTRONIC SEMICONDUCTORS................................................. 4-1 4.1 Historic Review of Development of Silicon Power Electronic Devices ..................... 4-2 4.2 Overview of Silicon Power Electronic Devices .......................................................... 4-3 4.2.1 Thyristor.......................................................................................................... 4-4 4.2.2 GTO and IGCT ............................................................................................... 4-4 4.2.3 MOSFET......................................................................................................... 4-5 4.2.4 IGBT ............................................................................................................... 4-6 4.2.5 MOS-Controlled Thyristor.............................................................................. 4-7 4.2.6 Emitter Turn-Off Thyristor ............................................................................. 4-7 4.2.7 Other Novel Device Structures ....................................................................... 4-8 4.3 Power Device Manufacturers ......................................................................................4-10 4.4 New Materials Usage...................................................................................................4-10 4.5 Innovation in Design of Power Electronics System as a Whole..................................4-12 5. WIDE BANDGAP POWER ELECTRONICS ..................................................................... 5-1 5.1 Challenges of Silicon Semiconductor Technology...................................................... 5-1 5.2 New Materials for Power Electronic Devices ............................................................. 5-3 5.3 Characteristics of Wide Bandgap Devices .................................................................. 5-3 5.3.1 Bandgap vs. Breakdown Voltage.................................................................... 5-4 5.3.2 Bandgap, Thermal Conductivity vs. Maximum Operational Temperature..... 5-5 5.3.3 Electric Breakdown Field vs. Drift Region Width.......................................... 5-5 5.3.4 On-Resistance ................................................................................................. 5-5 5.3.5 Drift Velocity vs. Switching Speed................................................................. 5-5 5.3.6 Figures of Merit............................................................................................... 5-6 5.4 System Benefits of Wide Bandgap Devices and Potential Applications..................... 5-6 5.5 Silicon Carbide