Impact of power electronic device development on power grids

The development history and the status of both power electronic devices (PEDs) and their application in power grids are briefly reviewed in this paper. From the application point of view, the evolution of both modification and improvement of the main circuit topologies propelled by the development of PEDs is analyzed and summarized. The application of PEDs to Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) including series and shunt compensation, and HVDC is selected as the research background. It is revealed that each generation of PEDs plays a crucial and decisive role in the technical improvement of both power electronic controllers and their applications, as well as accelerating the improvement of power grid performance. Based on a brief review and forecast of China's power grid development, it is pointed out that the establishment of Global Energy Interconnection (GEI) to implement the efficient grid development and utilization of clean energy become the important solution. Technologies based on PEDs such as UHVDC, DC grid, FACTS and flexible substation will become main technical fields of the future power grid development. The development of PED technology is expected to change the nature of the power grids fundamentally. Finally, by analyzing the requirement of power grid development on the PEDs, the outlook of PEDs for power grids is studied and identified. The demand of two main applications, i.e. HVDC/FACTS and flexible substation, on customized PEDs are analyzed and summarized.