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Offshore Wind Farms Research Paper

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 Department of Civil Engineering
Post Graduate Studies
Master of Civil Engineering

CIV544-Water Resources Engineering

Spring 2020

Offshore Wind Farms

Student: Helal Al Mansoori

Supervised by: Dr. Mohamed El Hakeem

Abstract
This research paper discusses the various important aspects with respect to
Offshore Wind Farms (OWFs). It tackles the development process, monitoring,
control, and operation. This research has a focus on the beneficial outcome of
OWFs, and how they help producing energy with the least possible harm to the
environment. Since OWFs are new source of energy there will be some highlights
on the development challenges. In addition, this paper will acknowledge the
various types of applications of OWFs. There will be an overview on the existing
OWFs, and how much productive they are. OWFs in this paper will be compared
to other sustainable sources of energy, such as, solar, and water. This comparison
will give a better understanding of the existing sustainable energy and will set the
line to wisely choose the ideal source of energy. As any other technology OWFs
have a positive as well as a negative impact on the environment specially the
marine environment since OWFs are erected in the middle of water bodies. Finally,
this paper will provide information with respect to the economical aspect of OWFs
and will give a rough estimate of how much conventional OWFs could cost.

Note: OWFs will be commonly used in this paper for convenience.

1. Introduction and Background
During the thriving era of development, we can witness the enormous changes
that are happening rapidly as we move in time. This development in all nations has
taken the energy resources for granted. Thus, many of the world’s conflicts today
can be traced to energy consumption. Those conflicts are over fuel supply and the
issues of greenhouse-gas emissions. Nonetheless, our global energy crisis has been
aggravated by a lack of innovation with respect to energy. More than sixty percent
of the energy utilized is wasted during its generation process and the time it is
delivered to consumers [1]. That is due to the outdated infrastructure of power
generation equipment. Therefore, there must be an innovative way to eliminate
waste, reduce pollution, and rely more on natural resources globally. Renewable
energy sources are great options that contribute to energy needs. However, it I not
enough to generate energy; in fact, we must use it efficiently and provide
conservation techniques that are sustainable.
Offshore Wind Farms (OWFs) are a plausible solution to resolve our growing
energy consumption problems. They are a new emerging technology in the field of
renewable energy. It is clean and harnessed by taking the advantage of the force of
the wind that is produced on the high seas where it reaches a higher and more
constant speed than onshore due to the absence of barriers. OWFs are abundant,
stronger and more consistent in terms of their availability than onshore-based wind
resources. While population grows and land becomes scarce, placement of such
substantial system of OWFs over the ocean has an enormous value. OWFs are
large number of wind turbines that are placed offshore in which they lie over
bodies of water. They are installed in 11 countries across Europe, with serious
dependence in the UK, Germany, and Denmark. Until this day around 74 offshore
wind farms have been installed with 8045 MW of wind capacity [2].
2. Offshore wind Farm Development Process
2.1 Site Selection
A very crucial step in planning for OWFs development process is to determine
the most suitable areas to deploy offshore wind energy systems. To investigate the
proper site selection GIS modeling is usually performed to provide suitability map
for OWFs. The analysis aspects taken into consideration and evaluation while
performing the GIS modeling are wind resources, technical projections of wind
turbines (seabed evaluation), economic costs and spatial constrains [3].

2.2 Wind Velocity Forecast

Wind velocity is a substantial factor in the development process as well since it
is associated to the economic feasibility of the project. It also improves power
prediction of a wind farm. As a result, accurate detailed analysis of wind data is
needed as a part of the wind energy system assessment. A study suggests that
collection of wind velocity data is based on measurements at 80 m above water
surface level on an hourly basis and include data history of 10 years [4].

2.3Water Depth
Water depth contributes to the determination of the investment cost of Offshore
wind farms projects. Water depth is important as it determines the selection of the
wind turbine support structure. According to a study, with the increase of water
depth the cost of mooring, anchoring, and cabling increase. A study shows that the
maximum water depth for OWFs is set to be 500m [4].

2.4 Turbine Selection

Primary components of a conventional OWF include number of wind turbines
located in water, connected by series of cables to a transformer station that is
located offshore. Moreover, this offshore station is connected to an onshore
transformer station connected to the power grid. Thus, selection of wind turbines
will require a detailed and carful study of the environment conditions. Since the
targeted winds are offshore, large size turbine is the ultimate choice. When a
turbine starts to rotate it drives a shaft that through a gear box drives a power

Fig. 1 Wind Turbine System Components.

generator that generates current via the principle of electromagnetic induction. The
turbines are spaced laterally considering 4 to 8 times the rotor diameter. Careful
placement of turbines is required since placing them closer to each other can cause
turbulence which reduces power generation. The figure 2 below shows a typical
layout of offshore wind farm[5].

Fig.2 Wind Farm components and their layout.

A wind turbine system includes foundation in which it is the primer support to the
system. It is required to keep the turbine in its proper position when it is
performing under natural conditions and wind forces. Foundation can be made
with materials such as reinforced concrete or steel. A support structure is also
needed to hold the transition tower to the foundation at the seabed. Also, the
foundation can act as a support structure if it is extended from seabed level to the
surface and connected directly to the tower [5].

3. OWFs Installation
The tower structures of the wind turbine-generators in OWFs are installed in
seabed. In deep water however, it becomes challenging to anchor the tower
structures directly on the seabed in which, high potential generation takes place.
Fixed support platforms were dominant in the past in which it was inspired by
onshore wind turbines installations. Fixed support however, gets fatigued by the
resonance that occurs with high frequency. Thus, fixed platforms will have short
life span in operation. Recently, floating offshore wind turbines are the popular
choice for OWFs. Floating offshore wind turbines are flexible when it comes to
construction and installation process. They can easily be removed from OWFs, yet,
they are complex in design [6].

3.1 System interconnection overview

The wind energy conversion into electric form is made using either fixed speed
or variable speed generators. To achieve optimum power out of wind, variable
speed is preferable over fixed speed generators. Doubly-fed Induction generators
(DFIGs) are the most widely used turbines due to the overall low cost, its modular,
compact, and standardized construction. DFIGs are wound rotor induction
generators having its rotor connected to grid through a back to back converter.
Moreover, there are two systems to interconnect DFGIs and collect the power
produced which are, high voltage direct current (HVDC) and high voltage
alternating current (HVAC). The more preferable system is HVDC, because DC
system technologies are beneficial for large scale integration of wind energy
system which reduces cost and minimum grid impact as the bulk power is
connected at a single point of entry as shown below in figure 3 [7].

3.2 Electrical Grid

Electrical grid or also known as power grid is an interconnected network as shown
below in figure 3 to deliver electricity from the resource in this case OWFs. The
basic electrical grid usually consists of generating system in this case OWFs
turbines, electrical substation that includes high voltage transmission lines to serve
as a transmission point from the source to the converters, and distribution lines to
deliver to consumers [7].
 Fig. 3: Block Diagram of OWF interconnection to onshore grid

3.4 Converters
The wind turbine generator system requires a power conditioning circuit which
is the power converter. Converters have a substantial activity which is transmission
of power from offshore to onshore gird. Also, they are capable of adjusting the
generator frequency and voltage to the grid. There are various types of converters
that have been developed over the years. However, two converter topologies are
currently used in the OWFs generator system, “diode rectifier-based converter”,
and “back to back converter”. In diode rectifier-based converter, AC power from
wind turbines is converted to DC power and then converted back to AC power at a
different frequency and voltage level [8].

Fig. 4: Diode rectifier-based converter topology

Diode rectifier-based converter transfers power in a single direction from the
generators to the gird. It is cost effective compared to back to back converter and
simpler to implement. Diode rectifier produce high amount of input current, which
affects the performance of the utility system. On the other hand, back to back
converter has been applied on most of OWFs that are available today. Unlike diode
rectifier, back to back converter is a bidirectional power converter [8].

Fig. 5: Back to back converter

4. OWFs Power Control and Operation

4.1 Voltage and frequency control
There are various techniques available to control voltage and frequency with
respect to the power produced from OWFs. The system that has DFIG connected
to HVDC mentioned earlier has the tendency to produce constant voltage and
frequency irrespective to the generator’s shaft speed. Thus, it is a great built in
technique to control voltage and frequency. There are some techniques that involve
usage of STATCOM, also known as “Static synchronous compensator”, which is a
regulating device used on electricity transmission networks to reduce voltage
fluctuations. STATECOM technique cannot be applied in diode-based HVDC
rectifier. Therefore, the approach followed in this case is using reactive power to
control voltage and active power to control frequency [9].
4.2 HVDC Power Control
It is necessary to control power transmitted with HVDC to insure reliable and
well-integrated system. In addition, controlling HVDC power will enhance power
transmission capability. HVDC is integrated in multiterminal OWFs to reduce cost
and insure efficiency. Grids with AC voltage and HVDC inverter controllers are
optimized to perform coordinated control action that provides adequate regulation
of HVDC voltage and current. There different ways to achieve proper management
and control of HVDC power flow. For instance, modifying the offshore grid
voltage and controlling HVDC by offshore inverter is a valid option. This approach
will reduce filter size and reactive power consumption on the onshore grid. A
second approach is to control HDVC current by onshore inverter which is used in
DFIG based wind turbines. This will insure the reduction of voltage variation
around the system and thus, reduce power consumption [10].

4.3 Protection and Security

OWFs protection strategy is usually based on dividing the system into zones
which include wind farm area, wind farm collection, wind farm interconnection
system, and the utility area. Generators are protected via circuit breaker that has a
breaking capacity of 2-3 times of generator rated current. In addition, electric fuses
protect the system against short circuits. The Collection system is protected by
over current relays. The submarine cables are protected by current differential or
distance relays which are voltage control equipment to avoid any faulty sections.
Rotor protection is achieved by crowbar circuits which prevent overvoltage
conditions is such a power supply system.

5. OWFs Maintenance Strategies

 Effective maintenance strategies for any power plant tend to decrease the
number of service interruptions and the negative outcomes caused by such
interruptions. Since OWFs are usually generated on larger scales than any other
renewable energy, thus, OWFs require an understanding of which is fundamental
when considering technical and economic viability of existing and future OWFs.
Such an operative system needs to be reliable at all times. Therefore, considering
different maintenance strategies with respect to every functionality of the system is
crucial. What are the available maintenance strategies for OWFs? There are two
main maintenance strategies that are generally used; the proactive maintenance,
and the corrective maintenance.

5.1 Proactive Maintenance

This strategy is applied prior to a failure, as a result, it is intended to reduce
probability of failure or the degradation on the functionality of a part or the overall
system. Proactive maintenance is further divided into preventive maintenance nd
predictive maintenance. Such strategy has a primer advantage in which it prevents
breakdowns and it extends the life of a power system. This strategy involves care
service to equipment which reduce the probability of malfunction, and it provides
systematic inspection, detection, and correction of any failures either before they
appear or before they develop into major problems [11].

Preventive maintenance is known as planned or scheduled maintenance, which

consists of maintenance activates that are performed on a specified period of time
or percentage of usage of either a part or overall system. Typical preventive
maintenance includes tasks such as, equipment inspection, lubrication, part
replacement, cleaning and adjustments [11]. On the other hand, predictive
maintenance is known as condition-based maintenance, in which, certain tasks are
undertaken with respect to a specific system condition. Indicators are placed on
equipment for diagnoses and measurement of physical condition of such
equipment. Those indicators have specified levels in which if they are reached they
indicate system deterioration in which maintenance must be done to restore the
system.

5.2 Corrective Maintenance

This strategy is followed once a fault is recognized and as a result of that fault
maintenance and replacement of required equipment is done to regain the
functionality of the system. Corrective maintenance does not deal with any
systematic inspection or monitoring. In this strategy the system is allowed to
function until it fails, and only then the failed equipment is repaired or replaced.
Such maintenance is applied to computer software and software engineering
applications [11].

6. OWFs Benefits
6.1 Overview of OWFs Benefits
Renewable energy is produced from abundant resources in which it can be
replenished within a human’s life time. OWFs are no exception as the winds are
abundant and they are at their peak velocity when they are offshore. Wind energy
is clean and utilizing such a resource will reduce any possible negative impact on
the environment. Adapting OWFs on various oceanic sites could provide more
than enough clean energy that meets electricity demand. Implementing such a
technology is relatively easier since it is located far on the sea and does not require
land. OWFs could open the gate to many business portfolios for major engineering
companies, and thus boost the economy. From the development aspects OWFs
have three primary benefits: system benefits, environmental benefits, and
socioeconomic benefits.

6.2 Electricity System Benefits

In this aspect of OWFs benefits, the focus is on the various ways that OWFs
could benefit the electrical system. To be able to evaluate this aspect we need to
remember that the OWFs system has three primary components: generation
facilities, transmission and distribution facilities, and the consumer. Offshore
winds are stronger and constant unlike onshore winds, and winds get stronger as
they get further from shore. Thus, the reliability of wind speed minimizes the risks
on the turbines and increases their percentage of life time [12].

6.3 Environmental Benefits

OWFs have substantial environmental benefits, for instance, very low carbon
dioxide emissions over its life cycle. In addition, negligible emissions of mercury,
nitrous oxides, and sulfur oxides, when comparing to conventional electrical power
generation. OWFs, produce neither solid waste nor liquid waste, whereas
electricity generated from coal, oil, natural gas, biomass, or nuclear power, leave
behind enormous waste. Moreover, OWFs do not require large sources of
freshwater or sea water for cooling purposes; in the other hand, conventional
sources of electricity do, as shown in figure 6. The amount of noise produced from
such system is tolerated since it is located farther from any residential or active
areas [12].
 Fig. 6: Water use by plant type

6.4 Socioeconomic Benefits

It is very important to assess socioeconomic benefits to understand the social
and economic consequences of projects, programs, and policies. Social benefits are
assessed qualitatively and it is very important to describe how social benefits
would relate to the community and how it would affect it. OWFs provide great
energy independence to communities who take advantage of such system. Thus,
OWFs can minimize the demand for fuel and thus avoid any uncertain fuel prices
and changes in emissions policy. Since wind energy is a renewable energy, thus, it
cannot be depleted. In contrast, conventional energy sources dependent on fossil
fuels have limited supply. Scientists state that climate change results in extreme
weather events which impact energy sources. However, since OWFs are
decentralized they are resilient to any extreme weather changes [12].
OWFs systems have the tendency to eliminate any energy loss over the cycle of
the power operation, when compared to conventional electricity resources. Thus,
this will result in avoiding any capital or socioeconomic costs of controlling and
mitigating energy loss, as they require sophisticated system improvements to
address energy loss while operating. Social benefits are affected by price changes
in electricity, and if prices increase, it may affect low and moderate households.
OWFs, have stable operations in which it is less likely to introduce any future
costs, in fact with time the system operation could improve with newer technology
to reduce costs in general. Thus, will adversely enhance social benefits from the
price fluctuation aspects [12].

7. OWFs Vs Solar Energy

In this section of the paper we need to look into other types of renewable energy
to understand and evaluate OWFs against those types of renewable energy. The
choice of renewable energy to be compared is “solar energy.” When comparing
green renewable energy sources, there are various aspects that need to be taken
into consideration; the choice is never as simple as one is better than the other.
Nevertheless, they are both clean energy options.

7.1 Wind Turbines Vs. Solar Panels

To start the comparison we need to understand the core of which the energy is
obtained. For solar, there are three primary technologies by which solar energy is
harnessed; photovoltaic technology (PV) captures sunlight then converts it to
electricity with semiconductor panels. Concentrating solar power is another
technology (CSP) that uses mirrors and lenses to obtain sunlight focus and convert
it to heat that will rotate a turbine to create energy. The third technology is solar
heating and cooling (SHC), which is a system that collects thermal energy to heat
up water and air, or air conditioning. On the other hand, wind turbines have the
same functionality irrespective to its shapes. There two wind turbine designs,
horizontal axis design, and vertical axis design as shown in figure # below.
 Fig. 7: Vertical axis vs horizontal axis design for wind turbines.

Horizontal axis design wind turbines have long and thin base and have 2-3 blades
that look like propellers. Those blades are extended from the top of the turbine and
they rotate as the wind blows. This rotation causes a shaft to spin inside the turbine
to generate electricity. In contrast, vertical axis design wind turbines have their
blades parallel to the base. Nevertheless, both horizontal and vertical wind turbines
generate electricity in the same way [13].

8. Economics of OWFs
There are several OWFs existing in many countries; however, for simplicity and
illustration this report will consider the country of Denmark since it is famous by
its active OWF plants in the city of Jutland and the city of Lolland. The Horns Rev
project, located approximately 15 kilometers away from the west coast of Jutland
is equipped with 80 turbines of 2 MW, with a total capacity of 160 MW. The
second project located south of Lolland called Nysted and it consists of 72 turbines
with 2.3 MW and total capacity of 165 MW. Both plants contain on-site
transformer stations that are connected to the HVDC grids at the coast via
transmission cables. The farms are operated and controlled through control stations
that are located onshore. The cost of each farm is approximately 260 million Euros
[14].

9. Conclusion
The motivation behind finding sustainable resources of energy is the fact that
the current resources are not enough to meet the future demand. With research and
technology, we come closer to discovering more sustainable options. Offshore
wind farms the target of this research have proven efficiency in various aspects
such as power, economic aspects, socioeconomic aspects, and environmental
aspects. Offshore wind farms are ideal solution to several problems and one
important problem is land; thus, since they are offshore they do not take up lands.
The cost of a typical 180 MW offshore wind farm can be 260 million Euros
(roughly 1040 million Dirhams).
 10. References
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