HVDC

Use of High Voltage Direct Current Transmission (HVDC) or in Indonesian terms is known as direct current power transmission (TDAS) actually started in the beginning of the first electricity was developed. Thomas Alva Edison made electricity network with a capacity of 6 x 100kW to power in 1200 using direct current light bulb in 1882. Although in its development, Edison developed dc system was 'lost' to compete with the ac system proposed by Westinghouse and Tesla, but these systems have been dc new era, the era of electricity. More than 70 years later, the dc transmission system came into use again after finding a mercury-arc tube at the end of the 1920s. Commercial HVDC project was first built in 1950 using a submarine cable to link Sweden with P. Gotland with a capacity of 20MW at 100kV voltage.
This paper briefly describes the technology, configuration, and application of direct current power transmission (HVDC).
HVDC technology started to be used again because the tube / mercury-arc already well established so that power converter ac / dc or dc / ac can be made, something that can not be done in the 1880s that resulted in the defeat of Edison's direct current alternating current system Westinghouse behind. Mercury-arc tube technology itself only lasted about 20 years until the invention of the thyristor at around 1970. This thyristor is the basis of the rapid development of HVDC technology because it can be made for the purposes of power, compared to the transistor / IGBT that with today's technology has a smaller capacity than the thyristor. The last decade, the development of IGBT technology allows for the HVDC converter is made by using IGBT (Figure 1), although its capacity is smaller than HVDC systems using thyristor converters. 

    Figure 1. Development of a static switch for HVDC