Offshore Electricity Infrastructure in Europe - European Wind Energy ...

Table of contents
FOREWORd 6
EXEcUTIvE SUMMARY 7
1 INTROdUcTION 17
1.1 Context and background 18
1.2 Objective of OffshoreGrid 19
1.3 Methodology and approach 19
1.4 Stakeholders 19
1.5 Document structure 20
2 kEY ASSUMPTIONS ANd ScENARIOS 21
2.1 Offshore wind development scenarios in Northern Europe 22
2.2 Generation capacity and commodity price scenarios 23
2.3 Technology to connect offshore wind energy 25
3 METhOdOlOGY - SIMUlATION INPUTS ANd MOdElS 27
3.1 Wind power series model 28
3.2 Power market and power flow model 29
3.3 Infrastructure cost model 29
3.4 Case-independent model 30
4 RESUlTS 31
4.1 Wind output statistics 32
4.1.1 Spatial smoothing of wind power 32
4.1.2 Spatial power correlations 33
4.2 Wind farm hubs versus individual connections 35
4.2.1 Hubs and individual connections in the sea basins in Northern Europe 36
4.2.2 Overall cost reductions expected from shared connections via hubs 39
4.2.3 Scheduled wind farm connection – risk of stranded hub investments 40
4.2.4 Conclusion and Discussion on Hubs versus Individual Connections 42
4.3 Integrated design – case studies 42
4.3.1 Tee-in solutions – Case study evaluation 43
4.3.2 Hub-to-hub solutions – Case study evaluation 46
4.4 Integrated design – case-independent model 49
4.4.1 Minimum distance for tee-in solution 49
4.4.2 Maximum distance between hubs for integrated hub solution 52
4.4.3 The Cobra cable case study 55
4.4.4 Conclusion on integrated design 57
4.5 Overall grid design 58
4.5.1 Approach 58
4.5.2 The Direct Design methodology 59
4.5.3 The Split Design methodology 64
4.5.4 Comparison of methodologies 69
4.5.5 Infrastructure investment – circuit length and total costs 74
4.5.6 Power system impact of the offshore grid 77
4.5.7 Conclusion and discussion 78
4 OffshoreGrid – Final Report