HVDC CONVERTER COMPRISING FULLBRIDGE CELLS FOR HANDLING A DC SIDE SHORT CIRCUIT

A power electronic converter (40) for use in high voltage direct current power transmission and reactive power compensation comprises three converter limbs (42), each converter limb (42) including first and second DC terminals (46,48) for connection in use to a DC network (52) and an AC terminal (50) for connection in use to a respective phase of a three- phase AC network (54), each converter limb (42) defining first and second limb portions (56,58) being connected in series between the respective AC terminal (60) and a respective one of the first and second DC terminals (46,48), each limb portion (56,58) including at least one switching element (62,66) being controllable in use to facilitate power conversion between the AC and DC networks (52,54), the power electronic converter (40) further including a plurality of auxiliary units (44), each auxiliary unit (44) being operably associated with the respective phase of the AC network (54), each auxiliary unit (44) including at least one module (60) including a voltage source, the limb portions (56,58) being controllable in use to define at least one three-phase static synchronous compensator including at least one of the plurality of auxiliary units (44) in each branch of a star configuration, each of the first and/or second DC terminals (46,48) defining the neutral point of the respective star configuration.