Current facts about offshore wind farms

A. Madariaga*, I. Martínez De Alegría, J. L. Martín, P. Eguía, S. Ceballos

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

57 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper reviews offshore wind projects with a wide perspective. The current situation of the offshore wind market is presented, pointing out the countries leading the process in terms of installed capacity and in terms of technological leadership. Feasibility studies of alternative offshore wind farms (OWFs) are interesting not only in relation to the business but in relation to the techno-economical analyses that engineering researchers need to do. Details about the average energy yield assessment, the costs and the price for the purchased energy are commented on, as key elements of those feasibility studies. The higher cost of renewable energy sources of electricity (RESE) when compared with conventional sources, demands appropriate policy support. The European regulatory framework and the support schemes established by European Member States are presented, as well as the role that different transmission system operators (TSOs) are playing at the moment. Finally, most of the OWFs currently operating are presented, analysing the technical characteristics of their electric subsystems: the wind energy conversion systems (WECSs) transforming the kinetic energy of the wind into electricity, the collector system (CS) gathering the power output of all the turbines to a central collection point (CCP) and the transmission system (TS) taking that power to the onshore main grid.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3105-3116
Number of pages12
JournalRenewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
Volume16
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2012

Funding

This work has been supported by Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain, within the project ENE2010-19187-C03-01, and by the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), within the Training and Research Units UFI11/16 and UFI11/28.

FundersFunder number
Edge Hill UniversityUFI11/28, UFI11/16
Ministerio de Economía y CompetitividadENE2010-19187-C03-01
Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea
Universitat Politècnica de València

    Keywords

    • Collector system (CS)
    • Feasibility studies
    • Offshore wind
    • Renewable energy source of electricity (RESE)
    • Support schemes
    • Transmission system (TS)
    • Wind energy conversion system (WECS)

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