For electrolyzer applications, traditional solutions using line frequency transformers plus rectifiers are bulky, heavy and have low controllability. The Solid State Transformer (SST) could be a promising solution to solve the mentioned issues. This paper compares the semiconductor ratings and capacitance of five different Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC) based Solid State Transformer (SST) topologies. The results show that the DRU (Diode Rectifier Unit)-MMC based topologies have the lowest semiconductor ratings and capacitance. Because of the unidirectional power flow requirement, the source side MMC of Back-to-Back (BtB) MMC based SST could be replaced by DRU, thus the cost is drastically saved. Another interesting finding is that the DRU-MMC energy ripple is much lower than half of the energy ripple in BtB MMC, which is different from HVDC MMC.

@en

Green hydrogen production uses renewable energies to energise the electrolysers for hydrogen production. The present paper compares possible solutions and configurations of a medium-frequency transformer (MFT) as part of a solid-state transformer (SST) in green hydrogen production applications. The single-phase and three-phase MFTs are compared and it is shown that a Yd three-phase MFT is the optimum choice for applications that require high power delivery and step-down of the voltage. A summary of previous works about MFT is also provided. Three-phase SST based on modular multilevel converters (MMC) is then described and various cases are investigated to obtain the optimum operational frequency. A 25 MVA, 400 Hz, 25.4 kV / 560V oil-immersed MFT design is presented and is shown that the proposed 400 Hz transformer saves 69% of the active parts' weight compared to a conventional line-frequency transformer (LFT).@en