FEATURE SPONSOR
GRID CONNECTIONS
REDUCING COSTS
DECC (the UK Department of Energy & Climate Change) has a goal to reduce the cost per megawatt of electricity by £40 to £100. This has resulted in ever-increasing pressure to reduce costs in the offshore wind industry and the knock on impact is that the size of wind turbines has been growing. The installation of 5 MW plus turbines has begun and we will soon see these operating in farms producing hundreds of megawatts.
SCALING UP
Scaling up means more turbines with higher output power ratings, spaced farther apart in wind park arrays at greater distances from the shore. This has led to a greater emphasis on the need to optimise the offshore collection grid and customers are now demanding that arrays operate at 66 kV rather than the traditional 33 kV.
HIGHER VOLTAGE BENEFITS This higher voltage solution has many attractions. Financially, there’s lower CAPEX for inter-array collection infrastructure, potential to cut costs by increasing the number of wind turbine generators connected to a single array, reducing the overall cable requirement, and the possible application of single array collection platforms to connect all of the wind turbines together.
Technically, 66 kV
substation transformers are significantly lighter than equivalent rated 33 kV units, there are lower losses in the array cables and wind turbines can be connected in loops to improve availability by creating a ring network. Also, it’s possible to reduce the number of substation transformers. In essence, changing to 66 kV offers greater performance, flexibility and potentially lower investment costs.
MULTI-FUNCTION SWITCHGEAR To meet the changing needs of HV offshore networks, ABB has introduced the hybrid PASS M00, 72.5 kV, multi- function switchgear range that combines conventional air insulated switchgear (AIS) and metal-clad gas insulated (GIS) switchgear modules.
All of the necessary substation switchgear bay functions, including circuit breaker, one or more combined disconnector/earthing switches, cable connections and current transformers are integrated in one compact module, eliminating the need for discrete items of equipment for each function.
CASE STUDY
A recent case study looked at the design of the power infrastructure for a new generation 72 kV wind offshore wind park equipped with 5 MW turbines. This showed it was possible to fit a complete HV substation module within a single wind turbine tower using the PASS M00 switchgear modules.
PASS modules are already in operation in the UK and have achieved full certification by ENA.
ABB
www.windenergynetwork.co.uk
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