Multi-terminal DC transmission system and method and means for control there-of

1. A method for controlling power flow within a multi-terminal DC power transmission system comprising two or more converter stations, said method comprising:

controlling said power flow to a steady state reference operating point for operating points within a control dead band defined for each respective converter station, wherein during the step of controlling said power flow to the steady state reference operating point for operating points within the control dead band, only one of the converter stations is in DC voltage control, and the other of the converter stations is/are in power or current control, and

controlling said power flow by means of droop control in at least one of said converter stations upon detection of exceeding of an end point of one or more of said control dead bands.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said steady state reference operating points are related to a voltage profile of steady state operation of said multi-terminal DC transmission system, and said control dead band being defined as steady state operation.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein said control dead bands are chosen so as to enable control of power flow within said control dead bands during steady state operation and minor load changes within said multi-terminal DC power transmission system and/or chosen individually for each converter station based on requirements thereof.

4. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein said control dead band of a converter station comprises a power dead band or a voltage dead band.

5. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein droop characteristics for said droop control are defined individually for each converter station.

6. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein said steady state operation comprises power flow during normal operating conditions including minor failures and load variations.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6 , wherein droop characteristics for said droop control are defined individually for each converter station.

8. The method as claimed in claim 6 , wherein said control dead band of a converter station comprises a power dead band or a voltage dead band.

9. The method as claimed in claim 6 , wherein said control dead bands are chosen so as to enable control of power flow within said control dead bands during steady state operation and minor load changes within said multi-terminal DC power transmission system and/or chosen individually for each converter station based on requirements thereof.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said control dead bands are chosen so as to enable control of power flow within said control dead bands during steady state operation and minor load changes within said multi-terminal DC power transmission system and/or chosen individually for each converter station based on requirements thereof.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein said control dead band of a converter station comprises a power dead band or a voltage dead band.

12. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said control dead band of a converter station comprises a power dead band or a voltage dead band.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein said control dead band of one of said converter stations comprises a power dead band and wherein the control dead bands of the remaining converter stations comprises voltage dead bands.

14. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein droop characteristics for said droop control are defined individually for each converter station.

15. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said steady state reference operating point is determined by a master control unit of said multi-terminal DC power transmission system in consideration of DC voltage profile of the entire multi-terminal DC power transmission system.

16. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein limitations in power, current and/or voltages are defined for each converter station, and wherein said method comprises the additional step of controlling said power flow so that said limitations are not exceeded.

17. A computer program product embodied into a memory of a computer controlling a converter station, said computer program product comprising software code portions for carrying out the method as claimed in claim 1 .

18. A multi-terminal DC power transmission system comprising two or more converter stations, and further comprising:

a dead band control device for controlling power flow to a steady state reference operating point for operating points within a control dead band defined for each respective converter station, wherein the dead band control device is configured to control said power flow to the steady state reference operating point for operating points within the control dead band by controlling only one of the converter stations in DC voltage control, and controlling the other of the converter stations in power or current control, and

a droop control device for controlling said power flow by means of droop control in at least one of said converter stations upon detection of exceeding of an end point of one or more of said control dead bands.

19. The multi-terminal DC power transmission system as claimed in claim 18 , wherein the only one of the converter stations is provided with the DC voltage control and arranged to keep its voltage constant.

20. The multi-terminal DC power transmission system as claimed in claim 19 , wherein the other of the converter stations is/are provided with the power control and arranged to keep their respective power constant.