{"id":260852,"date":"2026-06-01T06:22:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T10:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/01\/inside-the-technologies-powering-tomorrows-grids-physics-world\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T06:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T10:35:10","slug":"inside-the-technologies-powering-tomorrows-grids-physics-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/01\/inside-the-technologies-powering-tomorrows-grids-physics-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the technologies powering tomorrow\u2019s grids \u2013 Physics World"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/physicsworld.com\/a\/inside-the-technologies-powering-tomorrows-grids\/\">Inside the technologies powering tomorrow\u2019s grids \u2013 Physics World<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/physicsworld.com\/a\/inside-the-technologies-powering-tomorrows-grids\/\">https:\/\/physicsworld.com\/a\/inside-the-technologies-powering-tomorrows-grids\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Publish Date: <a href=\"publish_date]\">2026-06-01 06:22:00<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source Domain: <a href=\"physicsworld.com\">physicsworld.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Expert insights reveal why VSC converters and evolving semiconductor devices will dominate HVDC<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/physicsworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/electric-power-71042591-istock-chalabala-635x423.jpg\" srcset=\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\thttps:\/\/physicsworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/electric-power-71042591-istock-chalabala.jpg 1200w,\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\thttps:\/\/physicsworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/electric-power-71042591-istock-chalabala-635x423.jpg 635w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 635w\" alt=\"Electric power\" title=\"Electric power\" width=\"635\" height=\"423\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tElectric power (Courtesy: iStock\/Chalabala)<\/p>\n<p>High\u2011voltage transmission systems are a key part of power grids, transporting electricity from where it is generated to where it is used. Electricity is moved at high voltage and low current to reduce losses and improve efficiency. These systems are essential for grid stability, integrating renewable energy, and enabling long\u2011distance power transfer. There are two main high\u2011voltage direct current (HVDC) technologies: line\u2011commutated converters (LCC) and voltage\u2011source converters (VSC). LCCs are an older technology that use high\u2011power semiconductor switches called thyristors and are suited to very large power transfers. VSCs are a newer technology that use insulated\u2011gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), allowing faster control of power flow, better stability, and more compact converter stations.<\/p>\n<p>In this study, the researchers interviewed thirteen leading experts to understand which HVDC technology is likely to dominate in the future, how semiconductor devices may evolve, and what cost or supply issues might arise. The experts agreed that thyristors used in LCCs are a mature technology with limited room for improvement, and that demand for LCC systems is declining in North America and Europe, though they will remain important in regions requiring very high\u2011capacity transmission such as China and India. In contrast, IGBTs used in VSC systems are expected to continue improving, particularly in reliability, packaging, and voltage capability, reflecting the growing use of VSCs in Europe and North America. Some experts even suggested that VSC converter stations may now be comparable in cost to, or cheaper than, LCC stations, and that further improvements in IGBT&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/physicsworld.com\/a\/inside-the-technologies-powering-tomorrows-grids\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Inside the technologies powering tomorrow\u2019s grids \u2013 Physics World https:\/\/physicsworld.com\/a\/inside-the-technologies-powering-tomorrows-grids\/ Publish Date: 2026-06-01 06:22:00 Source&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":260853,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/physicsworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/electric-power-71042591-istock-chalabala.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64],"class_list":["post-260852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260852"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260852"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":260854,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260852\/revisions\/260854"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}