Potential Offshore Wind Energy Systems
Potential Offshore Wind Energy Systems
Potential Offshore Wind Energy Systems
By
Danaraj CHANDRASEGARAN
KGH070029
Abstract
LITERATURE REVIEW 5
Electrical System 6
Environmental Impacts 7
Sensitivity analysis 15
CONCLUSION 17
REFERENCES 18
In this paper, the technical and economical features of off-shore wind farms are
summarized and a methodology is described for evaluating the expected annual energy
yield and the cost of produced energy. This methodology is applied to six sites in the
Malaysian region, which offer promising potentials. The investigation is carried out
based selected wind turbine generator models suitable for off-shore applications.
Literature review
Offshore wind energy systems are different from on-shore installation due to
several reasons:
a) Offshore wind turbines generate mote power than onshore installations
because the wind speeds are higher and steadier. In addition, the wind
turbine generators are of larger diameters and rated power.
b) The plants are inaccessible during period of high winds
c) The installation and maintenance of the facilities require high investment
cost.
d) Submarine electrical transmission to the shore is considered as a major
portion of the works involved.
In addition, offshore environment are more uncertain and difficult than onshore
sites. Therefore, it presents more costs and risks to the parties involved.
The pertinent characteristics of this energy system are further elaborated in the
subsequent sections based on Ref. [4,5].
Principle components for the offshore wind turbine are illustrated in Figure 1
based on offshore wind farm in Denmark [6]. These are mainly concerns of rotor, turbine
assembly, tower and foundation which support the tower. Rotor refers to the blades and
blade hub. Turbine assembly includes the gearbox and the generator. These are enclosed
in a shell or nacelle. Meanwhile, tower supports the turbine assembly and houses the
remaining components and facilitates the maintenance access. Apart from this,
foundation or special structure required to support the whole turbine and tower assembly.
Due to the fact that wind velocities are higher and steadier in offshore area,
offshore wind turbines are substantially larger with blade length of about 30 - 40m and
tower heights of about 60 – 80m. Apart from this factor, demanding climates and
servicing constraints need to be considered as well. Towers shall be strengthened to cope
with wind and wave loading to the structures and also the corrosive nature of the sea
environment. In addition, an offshore installation requires corrosion protections, internal
climate control systems and internal cranes for servicing.
Electrical System
Firstly, deployment of offshore wind farms requires dedicated offshore electrical
system. This can be established by sub-sea cabling to the onshore grid from the offshore
substation. Figure 2 shows the AC grid connection of an offshore wind farm. At the
moment, offshore grid networks are being developed in Northern Europe. In addition,
High Voltage Direct Current grid technologies are being utilised as well [7] .
Environmental Impacts
As with any other potential energy source, environmental impacts are also given
substantial considerations as well. Nevertheless, wind energy is described as green
energy irrespective it’s either on the land or offshore. Currently, environmental studies
are conducted prior to the construction and subsequently any resulting recommendation
will implemented during the succeeding project phase. The following paragraphs
summarize the potential environmental consideration during the development and
operation of the offshore wind energy installations [7,8].
Another concern would be the visual impact of the wind turbine installations.
However, this impact diminishes as the distance to the shores increases. Also, the wind
turbines may interfere with shipping routes, fishing areas and recreational uses of the
selected area.
In the succeeding sections, the main technical and economical aspects for offshore
wind farm developments are appraised. The methodology of the appraisal is based on
Ref. [9].
Predictions of wind flow for a particular site plays a crucial role in determining
the feasibility of the project. Therefore, a detailed knowledge of wind characteristics and
historical data is required for efficient planning and implementation of wind farms. These
data can be sourced from meteorological department of the locality and marine surface
observation reports. For this study, the wind flow data is obtained from Ref. [10]. Sites
selected are shown in Figure 3 and the water depth of the sites is indicated in Figure 4.
Gross energy , EG (GWh/ year) contributed by each of the wind turbine can be
calculated using software tools with wind flow information and the wind turbine
generators (WTGs) power curve. In this paper, the HOMER software used considering
the WTGs power curves, prevailing wind directions and the Weibull distribution
parameter on the basis of values in Table 2 and Ref [10].
c) Wind farm design
Offshore wind farm layouts can be optimized for energy generation. However, the
water depth and sea bed conditions shall be considered as well to reduce the overall
project costs.
In this paper, the available space is assumed to be 2km2. Layout is composed by
arrays with distance between columns (dc) and rows (dr) of 8D and 6D. With these
assumptions, the number of WTGs in the wind farm can be summed as:
N = A/ (48. D2)
Also, the array efficiency, ηL if often assessed using software tools considering
the sheltering effects of the WTGs and wind flow characteristics. In this paper, the value
is assumed at 0.9.
Based on Ref. [9], an AC 20kV transmission line is the best solution for a wind
farm size of 10-20 MW with estimated distance to coast of 0.5 – 2.0 km. Considering the
same case for this paper, the electrical transmission losses coefficient ηE is expressed as:
ηE = 0.98 – (d/ 600)
On the basis of previous assumptions, the total investment cost, I can be summed up as:
I = N [PR (CT + CG + CM +CP) + CS]
Where PR is the WTG rated power
Economical Feasibility
This section described the methodology to calculate the costs of energy from the
offshore wind farm.
The total operating cost is the sum of the annual operation and maintenance
(O&M) costs, total fuel cost, and annualized replacement cost minus the annualized
salvage value. For grid-connected systems, the operating cost includes the annualized
cost of grid purchases minus grid sales.
The total net present cost of a system (NPC) is the present value of all the costs
that it incurs over its lifetime, minus the present value of all the revenue that it earns over
its lifetime. Costs include capital costs, replacement costs, O&M costs, fuel costs,
emissions penalties, and the costs of buying power from the grid. Revenues include
salvage value and grid sales revenue. This can be summed as:
NPC = Total annualized cost of the system/ CRF
Where, CRF = Capital recovery factor = i(1+i)n/[(1+i)n – 1]
i = discount rate
n = number of years
Levelized cost of energy (COE) is defined as the average cost per kWh of useful
electrical energy produced by the system. To calculate the COE, the annualized cost of
producing electricity (the total annualized cost minus the cost of serving the thermal load)
divided by the total useful electric energy production. Therefore COE can be summed up
as:
COE = Total annualized cost of the system/ Total electricity produced.
The main parameters of selected sites for this study are described in Table 2.
These sites face the South China Sea and present a potential offshore wind resource.
Figure 3 shows the sites, indicated by numerical identification of 1, 2, 3, 4, 8 and 13.
Wind speeds at these sites reach more than 5 m/s during the northeast monsoon season
and the rest of the year marked low. The directions of the wind are from the northeast and
east quadrant during the northeast monsoon season and south and southwest during the
southwest monsoon season [10].
The results are tabulated in Table 5. The lowest cost of energy system is achieved
at Site 2. Meanwhile, highest cost of energy system is found on Site 8. This is due to the
differences in the wind resources available in the particular site.
Figure 5 shows the monthly average electricity production in Site 2 using both
WTG models. The results confirm that electricity production is highest during the
northeast monsoon season and low for the rest of the year.
Sensitivity analysis
The influence of the feed-in tariffs in the cost of energy for Site 2 and for the V-
80 WTG model is explored in the sensitivity analysis. Table 7 describes the variation of
the cost of energy as a function of feed-in tariff. The initial values in the table are those
considered in Table 7. The analysis shows that feed-in tariff ratio of 2.38 would represent
the break even point for the energy system cost. Any subsequent increase in feed-in tariff
ratio would be present an attractive climate for private sectors to invest.
Conclusion
The 2 MW rated wind turbines, provides the lowest energy cost at RM0.40.
However, higher net specific production is provided by the 0.66 MW rated wind turbine.
The sensitivity analysis confirms that the feed-in tariff is a significant factor in
determining the feasibility of the offshore wind farm in Malaysia. Feed-in tariff higher
than the break even point would attract private sectors to invest on this type of energy
system. Nevertheless, the uncertainty in the renewable energy policies and wind farm
availability shall make it difficult to forecast the cost of energy for this type of
applications.
In summary, the main obstacle in the Malaysian offshore wind farm deployment
would be the feed-in tariff policy. An attractive policy would determine the profitability
of an investment in the offshore wind farms and encourage private sectors to invest here.
References
[1] World Wind Energy Association. “World Wind Energy Report 2008”. February
2009
[2] Tick Hui Oh, Shen Yee Pang, Shing Chyi Chua. “Energy policy and alternative
energy in Malaysia: Issues and challenges for sustainable growth”. Renewable
and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 14, pp1241–1252, 2010.
[3] Gaetano Gaudiosi. “Offshore Wind Energy Prospects”. Renewable Energy, Vol.
16, pp828-834, 1999.
[4] Minerals Management Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. “Wind Energy
Potential on the U. S. Outer Continental Shelf”. May 2006.
[5] Wang Zhixin, Jiang Chuanwen, Ai Qian, Wang Chengmin. “The key technology
of offshore wind farm and its new development in China”. Renewable and
Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 13. pp216–222, 2009.
[6] Dong Energy. (undated). [Online]. Viewed 2010 March 15. Available
http://www.hornsrev.dk/
[7] Brian Snyder, Mark J. Kaiser. “Ecological and economic cost-benefit analysis of
offshore wind energy”. Renewable Energy, Vol. 34, pp1567–1578, 2009.
[8] European Wind Energy Association. “Oceans of Opportunity: Harnessing
Europe’s largest domestic energy resource”. September 2009.
[9] Antonio Pantaleo, Achille Pellerano, Francesco Ruggiero, Michele Trovato.
“Feasibility study of offshore wind farms: an application to Puglia region”. Solar
Energy, Vol. 79, pp321-331, 2005.
[10] E. P. Chiang, Z. A. Zainal, P. A. Aswatha Narayana and K. N. Seetharamu.
“Potential of Renewable Wave and Offshore Wind Energy Sources in Malaysia”.
Marine Technology Seminar, pp1-7, 2003.
List of Figures and Tables
6,000
Power (kW)
4,000
2,000
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
V-47
Monthly Average Electric Production
8,000
Wind
Grid
6,000
Power (kW)
4,000
2,000
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
V-80
Figure 5 - Monthly Average Electric Production
1600
1400
1200
MWh/ MW
1000
800
600
400
200
0
1 2 3 4 8 13
Site
V-47 V-80
35 m operation deep, and can be installed at the base without assistance. Moreover, the whole lifting and installation
method has been adopted.
7. Electrical transmission (1) Offshore wind turbines are arranged in a certain way with the information of an independent group series
technology connected with booster substations. Silicon resin cooling transformer is specially developed with good sealing
property. (2) HVDC is used to decrease network loss and improve power quality.
8. Access and stability Network access and grid-connection technology of offshore wind farm, which includes stability of grid, reliability and
operation of system control strategy.