East Anglia THREE Offshore Windfarm


How does an offshore windfarm work?


1 Offshore wind turbines convert energy from the wind into electrical energy.


2 Electricity is transmitted from the wind turbines to offshore collector stations by interarray cables.


3 The collector stations transform the electricity into a higher voltage.


4 Offshore converter stations convert the electricity from alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC). These are not required for the low-frequency AC (LFAC) solution.


5 The offshore export cables bring the electricity to shore where they are connected to underground onshore cables.


6 Onshore cables take the electricity to an onshore converter station.


7 The converter station converts the electricity back to AC from DC. In the LFAC solution, an onshore substation would be required.


8 Electricity is transmitted to the National Grid substation and then onto the national transmission network.


The technologies used to construct East Anglia THREE will be groundbreaking in terms of the types of turbines and foundations used, the size of these, the installation methods and the output of the turbines.


This is due to the water depth, the sea conditions, the distance from shore to the project and the need for the project to be commercially viable.


Image of Ormonde Windfarm (Source: Vattenfall. Ben Barden).


Repower 5-MW wind turbine with a height of 115 m. The wind turbine model proposed for East Anglia THREE Offshore Windfarm is yet to be determined; however, the maximum height of the wind turbines would be 247 m.


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