
//INTEGRAS/KCG/P AGIN ATION/ WILEY /WPS /FINALS_1 4-12- 04/0470855088_ 23_CHA22 .3D – 492 – [479–504/26]
17.12.2004 10:46PM
Size of offshore substation
Different technical transmission solutions have widely divergent requirements regarding
the size of the offshore substation (Kirby, Xu and Siepman, 2002). In general, the size of
an AC offshore substation will be only about a third of the size of the corresponding
HVDC solution, owing to the significant space required by the converter stations. For
onshore HVDC co nverter stations, LCC based converter stations need considerably
more space than do VSC based systems. Eriksson et al. (2003) argue that a 300 MW VSC
offshore converter station requires a space of approximately 30 40 20 m (width
length height). Regarding VSC converter stations, it is important to remember that
the maximum possible rating at present is 300 MVA; hence a larger capacity demand
will require multiple VSC converter stations. For very large capacity requirements
(>> 300 MW), the possible advantages of VSC based solutions regarding space require-
ments compared with LCC solutions may be significantly reduced.
Grid impact
Owing to the considerable rating of offshore wind farms, the impact of the entire
offshore wind farm system on the onshore power system has to be taken into account
(i.e. the type of wind turbines, the transmission technology and the grid interface
solution). It is also important to consider that some of the countries that expect a
significant development of offshore wind farms already have an onshore network with
a significant amount of onshore wind power (e.g. on Germany, see Chapter 11; on
Denmark, see Chapter 10).
Transmission network operators in Denmark and Germany, for instance, have there-
fore alrea dy defined new grid connection requirements for connecting wind farms to the
transmission system. These regulations are also binding for offshore wind farms (for
details, see Chapter 7). Other transmission network operators current ly prepare similar
requirements. The new regulations will try to help the onshore network to remain stable
during faults. An example of such requirements is that a wind farm will have to be able
to reduce the power output to 20 % below rated capacity within 2 s of the onset of a
fault. After the fault, the wind farm output ha s to return to the prefault level within 30 s.
During the past few years, a number of studies have been conducted on the impact of
the different transmission solutions on the grid and their capability to comply with the
new grid connection requirements (see Bryan et al., 2003; Cartwright, Xu and Saase,
2004; Eriksson et al., 2003; Gru
¨
nbaum et al., 2002; Ha
¨
usler and Owman 2002; Henschel
et al., 2002; Kir by, Xu and Siepman, 2002; Kirby et al., 2002; Ko
¨
nig, Luther and Winter,
2003; Martander 2002; Schettler, Huang and Christl, 2000; Søbrink et al., 2003). It can
be concluded from these studies that the grid impact depends very much on the
individual case (i.e. the grid impact depends on the detailed design of the various
solutions). The manufacturers of the various technical transmission solutions currently
develop appropriate system designs to minimise the grid impact and to comply with the
new grid connection requirements. Many of the above-ci ted studies are performed by or
in cooperation with manufacturers of the various technical transmission solutions in
order to demonstrate their technical capabilities. In other words, possible drawbacks of
certain technical solutions regarding grid integration are minimised with additional
equipment. Hence the main decision criteria for or against a certain technical solution
will be based mainly on the overall system economics, which shou ld include the cost for
492 Transmission Systems for Offshore Wind Farms