Low Frequency AC transmission for offshore wind power: A review

Offshore wind farm integration is providing substantial technical and economic challenges in the medium term and the trend for farther shore development in the future is focusing research and industry attention on cost effective transmission alternatives to existing technologies. In 2014, offshore wind capacity in Europe consisted of 8045MW, with the majority of this connected to onshore grid via High Voltage AC (HVAC) transmission. Wind farms commissioned further offshore (>80km) utilise High Voltage DC (HVDC) transmission for grid interconnection. The deployment and operation of Voltage Sourced Converter (VSC) HVDC substations in harsh offshore environments is still a major challenge for the offshore wind industry. Recently, research studies to reduce the complexity of the offshore network have been undertaken both in industry and in academia, with the primary motivation of reducing cost and increasing reliability.

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