BOEM Links Up With US Department of Defense On Offshore Wind
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Department of Defense (DOD) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to support the coordinated development of offshore wind on the US Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).
These three paragraphs give more details of the agreement.
The agreement calls for DOD and BOEM to find mutual solutions that support renewable energy in a manner compatible with essential military operations.
The MoU also requires the organizations to collaborate early in the offshore wind leasing process and maintain regular communication at all levels.
Additionally, the agreement calls for DOD and BOEM to determine what areas should be deferred from leasing to enable the performance of DOD activities on the OCS.
I feel this is a very sensible agreement, as time progress, I’m sure that the co-operation will lead to several joint projects.
- Support boats ensuring safety, like the deal between Ørsted and the RNLI, that I talked about in Ørsted Evolves Long-Standing Partnership With RNLI,
- Offshore structures like electrolysers and substations could have a secondary use as military training facilities.
- Smaller ships, like minehunters, coastguard cutters and fishery protection vessels could go electric and the wind farms could provide charging facilities.
If the United States Navy are hanging around the wind farms, it might discourage Putin’s friends.
Wind farms and the US military could be good neighbours.
Brendan Owens, who is the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment, said this.
We will continue to work with BOEM and our other interagency partners, to find solutions that enable offshore wind development while ensuring long-term compatibility with testing, training, and operations critical to our military readiness.
Other nations with large amounts of continental shelf and ambitions to install large amounts of offshore wind like Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the UK could do worse that follow the American strategy.
World’s First Unmanned HVDC Offshore Platform Installed At World’s Largest Offshore Wind Farm
The title of this post, is the same as that of this news item from the Dogger Bank wind farm web site.
These are the two bullet points.
- Dogger Bank Wind Farm will be first UK High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) connected offshore wind farm
- 70% reduction in topside weight per MW for offshore platforms
These are my thoughts.
High Voltage Direct Current
Wikipedia has an excellent entry on high voltage direct current, which is commonly referred to as HVDC.
The news item says this about how the electricity is brought ashore from the Dogger Bank wind farm.
The innovative offshore platform has a lean design and is the first unmanned HVDC platform which will be operated from shore and accessed only by a Service Operations Vessel. The platform will receive 1.2GW of AC power from Dogger Bank A’s 95 offshore wind turbines and convert it to DC, which will then be sent ashore to an onshore convertor station near Beverley in East Riding of Yorkshire.
Fitted with Hitachi Energy’s latest generation HVDC converter technology, Dogger Bank will be the first offshore wind project in the UK to use this technology to transmit the electricity produced back to shore, ensuring that the electricity is transmitted efficiently over long distances while minimising losses.
Note.
- Wind turbines generate AC.
- There will be conversion to DC on the substation and conversion back to AC onshore.
- It should also be noted, that large undersea interconnectors are generally built around HVDC technology.
Wikipedia says this about the advantages of DC transmission.
A long-distance, point-to-point HVDC transmission scheme generally has lower overall investment cost and lower losses than an equivalent AC transmission scheme. HVDC conversion equipment at the terminal stations is costly, but the total DC transmission-line costs over long distances are lower than for an AC line of the same distance. HVDC requires less conductor per unit distance than an AC line, as there is no need to support three phases and there is no skin effect.
Depending on voltage level and construction details, HVDC transmission losses are quoted at 3.5% per 1,000 km (620 mi), about 50% less than AC (6.7%) lines at the same voltage. This is because direct current transfers only active power and thus causes lower losses than alternating current, which transfers both active and reactive power.
It looks like cost is a big factor.
My knowledge of grid systems and AC power is limited, as I was more of a Control Engineering and Electronics student at university.
But could HVDC-connected wind farms have advantages, when it comes to providing a reactive power capability to the grid, as I wrote about in Dogger Bank C In UK Offshore Wind First To Provide Reactive Power Capability.
Extra income is another good reason to choose something.
Lightweight Platforms
I’ve always been a fan of lightweight structures and it does seen that the engineers of the Dogger Bank Wind Farm have gone down that route.
This is a paragraph from the news item.
The platform will be controlled from shore and by removing the need for personnel to stay on the platform meant it has been possible to eliminate elements such as the living quarters, helideck and sewage systems, resulting in a 70% reduction in weight (per megawatt) of the topside compared to previous platforms installed, and cost savings of hundreds of millions of pounds.
Again costs are being reduced and profits increased.
We should never rule out the importance of the finances of a project. Once by simulating a chemical process on the computer for ICI, I knocked ten metres off the height of a chemical plant. I got a nice little bonus for that!
If they have made a substantial reduction in substation weight, this surely means that the supporting structure can probably be smaller and less costly.
Conclusion
I suspect, a lot more wind farms will follow the Dogger Bank example.
Floating Offshore Substation Project Secures EUDP Funding
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Semco Maritime, ISC Consulting Engineers, Aalborg University, Energy Cluster Denmark, and Norway and Sweden-based Inocean have secured funding to further develop a floating offshore substation (FOSS) concept.
This is the first paragraph.
The parties announced their collaboration in 2022 and are now set to further accelerate floating offshore substation development through funding from the Energy Technology and Demonstration Program (EUDP).
These three paragraphs talk about the design.
The substation layout has been developed to fit the shape of a three-column stabilised substructure, according to the partners.
The floating offshore substation is a crucial component in the offshore wind farm industry as deeper ocean sites further from the coastline are to be utilised, the partners said.
Between 60-80 per cent of the world’s offshore wind energy potential is in areas with depths greater than 60+ metres, which presents a need for an alternative solution to bring the power to shore, such as a floating offshore substation, according to the developers.
That all seems sensible.
Apollo to Work On Celtic Sea Multi-Connection Offshore Substations
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Celtic Sea Power has awarded the Aberdeen-based engineering consultants, Apollo, with the pre-FEED contract for the 400 MW Pembrokeshire Demonstration Zone Multi-connection Offshore Substation (PDZ MOS) and 2x 1 GW MOSs targeting The Crown Estate Refined Area of Search (RAoS) A offshore Wales
This is the first paragraph.
Located 19 kilometres off the Pembrokeshire coast, the PDZ MOS project is designed to allow offshore renewable energy technology developers easy access to a consented test site complete with a grid connection to prove their technology in the offshore environment.
Sounds like the sort of infrastructure that is needed, so you can tow up your experimental floating wind turbine, secure it and just plug it in.
The Anonymous Widower 