Selection of optimal access point for offshore wind farm based on multi-objective decision making

Abstract This paper analyzes the problem of selecting the optimal access point in power grid for the offshore wind farm (OWF), which is increasingly integrated into the onshore power system by use of voltage-source converter based high voltage direct current (VSC-HVDC) transmission. The development of the selecting method includes three steps. First, three major factors, which have significant impacts on deciding the optimal location of the onshore VSC, are introduced, i.e., voltage support from onshore VSCs, voltage fluctuation caused by the change of wind power and construction costs of the VSC-HVDC transmission system. Secondly, three evaluation indexes that are corresponding to the three factors are put forward. Thirdly, in the face of this multi-objective programming problem, a linear weighted model is proposed in this paper and the comprehensive weight method based on the theory of information entropy and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method is adopted to get the weight coefficients. The method is carried out in a practical power system in China. The results demonstrate that the proposed methodology is an effective way for selecting the optimal access point of the OWF.