Harald G. Svendsen

Analysis of grid alternatives for North Sea offshore wind farms using a flow-based market model

Offshore wind farms are gradually being planned and built farther from the shore. The increased integration of wind power, also onshore, and the demand for improved power system operation give rise to a growing need for transnational power exchanges. Grid connection is a critical factor for successful large scale integration of offshore wind power. In this paper a comparison study between two different grid building strategies for offshore wind farms in the North Sea is presented for the 2030 medium wind scenario of the TradeWind project [1] (302 GW installed wind capacity). These two strategies are: i) A strategy based on radial wind farm connections to shore and point-to-point interconnections between countries, called radial grid; ii) A strategy based on the use of offshore nodes to build an HVDC offshore grid, called offshore grid. The comparison addresses different power system aspects, such as the total socio-economic benefit associated with each strategy, power exchanges between countries, offshore wind power utilization, grid congestions and utilization of HVDC cable capacity. We find that the offshore grid gives a total benefit over the economic lifetime of the grid for the European interconnected power system of 2.6 billion Euro compared with the radial grid. Our results show that even for moderate amounts of installed wind capacity, the offshore grid strategy is better than the radial one, assuming the future European power system will have a large penetration of offshore and onshore wind power.

Impact of system power losses on the value of an offshore grid for North Sea offshore wind

Grid connection is a critical factor for the integration of large scale wind power. This factor is even more important in the framework of transnational power exchange which is a way to improve power system operation. In this paper a comparison study has been carried out between two different grid building strategies for offshore wind farms in the North Sea using the 2030 medium wind scenario from the TradeWind project [1]. These strategies are i) radial and ii) meshed grid configuration. The paper has considered active power losses for both strategies and capture the effect of losses on different power system aspects, such as the total soci-economic benefit associated with each strategy, offshore wind power utilization, power exchange between the grid points, grid bottlenecks and utilization of HVDC connections. Using a meshed grid compared to radial there will be a total benefit of 2.7 billion Euro over the economic life time of the grid. However this benefit will be increased by 0.3 billion Euro by taking into account the grid losses for both cases. The results shows the benefit of using meshed offshore grid for future European power system with a large penetration of off- and onshore wind power.

PowerGAMA: A new simplified modelling approach for analyses of large interconnected power systems, applied to a 2030 Western Mediterranean case study

This paper describes a modelling approach suitable for assessments of future scenarios for renewable energy integration in large and interconnected power systems, based on sequential optimal power flow computations that take into account variability in power consumption, in renewable power production, energy storage, and flexible demand. The approach and the implementation as an open source Python package called Power Grid And Market Analysis is described in some detail. Particular emphasis is put on the modelling of energy storage systems, and the use of storage values as a means to define storage utilisation strategies. A case study representing a 2030 scenario for the Western Mediterranean region is then analysed using this approach. The main aim of this study is to assess the benefit for the system of adding flexibility in terms of storage associated with concentrated solar power or flexible demand. But other results are also presented, such as the resulting energy mix, generation costs, price variati...

Integration of offshore wind farm with multiple oil and gas platforms

This paper discusses stability and control issues for an isolated offshore system consisting of a wind farm and five oil and gas platforms.

Developing a wind and solar power data model for Europe with high spatial-temporal resolution

This paper describes a wind and solar power production model for Europe based on the numerical weather prediction model COSMO-EU. The COSMO-EU model has hourly time resolution and a spatial resolution of 7 km × 7 km for Europe. The model is validated against power production information from the system operators in Denmark, Germany and Spain. Mean Average Error (MAE) (hourly error averaged for a year) relative to the wind installed capacity is in the range 4.9%–5.9% for wind power production and 2.4%–5.5% for PV (photovoltaic) power production. Root Mean Square Error is in the range 6.2%–7.6% and 4.5%–9.3% for wind and PV power production respectively. The results are compared with similar modelling based on wind and radiation data from the NCEP reanalysis model. This model has six hourly time resolution for wind resources and daily resolution for radiation data. Modelling of wind power production in Denmark, German and Spain has a MAE in the range 5.6%-8.5% and solar PV production 4.9%–6.4% for the NCEP reanalysis model.

Integration of renewable energy and the benefit of storage from a grid and market perspective - results from Morocco and Egypt case studies

This paper presents results from case studies of the future power systems in Morocco and Egypt, with a high increase in renewable generation capacity. Datasets representing 2030 scenarios have been generated and studied with a simplified grid-market model that takes into account variable renewable generation, energy storage and electricity grid constraints. Simulation results for Morocco and Egypt are studied and compared, with emphasis on the benefit of energy storage.