Multi Terminal HVDC Patents: Leaders, Trends & White Space 2026
Filing growth compares 2021 (5 records) with 2024 (13) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 329 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the multi-terminal HVDC patent record shows
Multi-terminal HVDC systems connect three or more converter stations on a shared DC grid, and the 329 patent records tracked here span filings from 2015 through the 2026 cut-off. Ownership is concentrated rather than fragmented: a small number of transmission-equipment manufacturers and grid operators account for a large share of all filings, while the remainder of the ranked list thins out quickly into single-digit filers.
The claim space itself is narrower than the assignee count suggests. Converter control and grid-integration classes carry the bulk of the filing activity, and the 2021-to-2024 filing rebuild, plus a wide spread across major receiving offices, both point to a technology still being actively contested rather than settled.
How the multi-terminal HVDC field has filed and where it sits technically
The 329 records in scope span 2015 through the 2026 cut-off, with publication lag meaning the last one to two years are still filling in as more filings publish.
Filing trend: a rebuild after an early peak
Filings ran from 9 in 2017 to a peak of 31 in 2018, then cooled before rebuilding — 2021 to 2024 alone shows a 160% increase, from 5 to 13 filings, with 2024 the most recent year that can be read as complete.
Technology composition: converter control and grid integration dominate
H02J (power supply and grid systems) appears in 66.3% of the 329 records and H02M (power conversion) in 44.7%, confirming that most patent activity sits in grid-side integration and converter topology rather than in protection, switching or software layers, each of which registers in single digits.
Shares are the percentage of the 329 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
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Multi terminal HVDC control methods and systems (US20260213543A1)
A method for controlling or operating HVDC converters within a multi-terminal HVDC system, in which each converter is given its own converter-specific DC voltage reference. A feedback signal is determined for each converter by analysing its terminal characteristics, producing an index that modifies that converter's own DC voltage reference rather than applying one shared reference across the system.Filed by Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission, published 2026-07-23
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20130197704A1 | DC connection scheme for windfarm with internal MVDC collection grid | 197 |
| 2 | US20060282239A1 | Method of setting-up steady state model of VSC-based multi-terminal HVDC transmission system | 164 |
| 3 | EP2290799A1 | Bi-directional multilevel AC-DC converter arrangements | 98 |
| 4 | WO2011124260A1 | Modularised converter for HVDC and statcom | 90 |
| 5 | US20130208514A1 | Converter for HVDC transmission and reactive power compensation | 83 |
| 6 | US20130208521A1 | Hybrid HVDC converter | 83 |
| 7 | US20140226373A1 | Method for Suppressing Circulating Current in Modular Multilevel Converter for High Voltage Direct-Current Tr… | 82 |
| 8 | WO2011124258A1 | Hybrid HVDC converter | 82 |
| 9 | US20130128629A1 | Hybrid 2-level and multilevel HVDC converter | 78 |
| 10 | US20120188803A1 | Converter with reactive power compensation | 55 |
Citation counts favour older records simply because they have had longer to accumulate them; read this as a map of foundational influence, not of current filing priority.
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Four read-outs from the 329-record corpus, each tied to a figure in the dataset rather than a general impression of the field.
Ownership sits with a small group of transmission-equipment majors
The leading assignee alone accounts for 46 records, and the top five combined hold 151, or 45.9% of everything in scope. That leaves the other 60-plus ranked assignees, and any unranked filers, splitting a comparatively thin remainder.
The field is rebuilding after its 2018 peak
Filings hit 31 in 2018, cooled, then climbed from 5 in 2021 to 13 in 2024. Treat 2025 and 2026 figures as incomplete given the roughly 18-month publication lag, not as evidence of another slowdown.
Grid-integration and converter-control claims crowd the core
H02J and H02M together anchor the large majority of filings, meaning most freedom-to-operate risk sits in grid-side integration and converter topology, not in the smaller protection or software-adjacent classes.
Filing is spread across major grid markets, not concentrated in one office
The US leads with 67 filings, EPO follows at 60, China at 47, and WIPO's PCT route at 42, with India and the UK also represented — a pattern consistent with cross-border transmission infrastructure rather than a single home market.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to high-voltage direct current: multi terminal hvdc patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Where to take this analysis
The figures here identify concentration and technology composition at a subclass level. Turning that into a filing or licensing decision means going deeper on specific claims and specific assignees.
Check a draft claim against the top-cited records
The most-cited documents in this corpus, including the VSC-based windfarm and modular-converter records, set the boundaries later filers have had to write around.
Compare claims in EurekaTrack the assignees behind the 2021–2024 filing growth
The rebuild from 5 to 13 annual filings is not evenly spread across the ranked list; identifying which assignees drove it shows where competitive activity is live now.
Explore assignee activity in EurekaTest white-space claim directions before drafting
Measurement, software and materials-adjacent classes each sit in single digits as a share of the 329 records, leaving room to check freedom-to-operate before committing R&D.
Run a white-space search in EurekaQuestions practitioners ask about multi-terminal HVDC patents
Ownership is concentrated at the top: the leading assignee holds 46 of the 329 records in scope, and the top five combined account for 151 records, or 45.9% of the field. The top ten combined reach 214 records, 65.0% of all filings, which means the remaining ranked assignees and the long tail beyond them share the other third. That concentration is typical of a grid-equipment field dominated by a handful of large transmission-equipment manufacturers and state grid operators rather than startups.
It grew sharply in the most recent complete years: filings rose from 5 in 2021 to 13 in 2024, a 160% increase over that three-year span, after an earlier peak of 31 filings in 2018 and a slower period in between. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures in the raw trend understate actual filing activity and should not be read as a slowdown. The safest reading is that the field rebuilt momentum through 2024 rather than that it declined after 2018.
Power supply and grid systems (IPC class H02J) appear in 66.3% of the 329 records in scope, and power conversion (H02M) in 44.7%, making these the two dominant claim areas. Protective circuit arrangements (H02H) cover 12.8%, with switches and relays, digital data processing, and measurement each in the single digits. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, these shares add up to more than 100%, and they show where claim density sits rather than where the technology is most mature.
The United States leads with 67 filings, followed by the European Patent Office at 60, China at 47, WIPO's PCT route at 42, India at 21 and the United Kingdom at 19. This spread indicates the technology is being protected across multiple major grid markets simultaneously rather than filed defensively in a single jurisdiction, consistent with multi-terminal HVDC projects being large, cross-border transmission infrastructure.
US20260213543A1, filed by Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission and published 2026-07-23, claims a control method giving each converter in a multi-terminal HVDC system its own converter-specific DC voltage reference derived from analysing that converter's terminal characteristics. Anyone implementing per-converter adaptive voltage referencing in a multi-terminal DC grid should check their control architecture against this claim before committing to a design. Approaches using a single shared or centrally computed voltage reference across all terminals, without the converter-specific feedback step, sit outside what is claimed here.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.