Offshore
together more than 20 partners at the forefront of renewable energy development, power system manufacture, and operation and grid management – aims to craft future interoperability standards for multi-terminal high-voltage direct current (HVDC) grids used in offshore electricity.
Lofty ambitions
Against this backdrop, Europe is looking to build around 450GW of offshore wind by 2050, with the EU alone having set a target of 300GW. This includes 111GW of offshore renewable generation capacity by the end of the decade – almost double the 60GW set out in its Offshore Renewable Energy Strategy in November 2020.
“For Europe to deliver on its 300GW offshore wind capacity target by 2050, future offshore transmission systems will not only transmit electricity to shore, but also serve as interconnectors between the wind farms and between member states,” a European Commission representative notes, speaking on the EU’s efforts. “Hence, the need for the HVDC connectors to be interconnected in a meshed grid.”
The official adds, “Energy islands are an excellent example of the green transition [and] global ambition, as well as cooperation within Europe, where the electricity produced by offshore wind farms in energy islands can be used onshore directly for electrified demand. This is key to replacing fossil fuels and increasing the share of renewables in our energy mixes.”
Given such lofty ambitions, hybrid offshore wind farms are set to play an increasingly important role in delivering targets. That’s not to say that they don’t face challenges of their own. Indeed, Sébastien Silvant of the SuperGrid Institute and project coordinator of the InterOPERA Project, highlights the obstacles presently involved, noting: “It is difficult or even impossible to connect currently planned and built HVDC connections to an increasingly interconnected and meshed offshore grid.”
For Silvant, the ideal solution is to develop joint standards in Europe that ensure converter stations and components of the different HVDC suppliers become interoperable and interchangeable. This would enable grid planners and grid investors to freely choose from a full range of components and converter stations from the different suppliers that best suit their specific needs.
Developing a framework or system integration To this end, InterOPERA is tasking itself with defining the functional requirements of each grid element and matching these with the needs of the transmission systems operators. The project will subsequently develop a framework for system
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integration and solutions for interoperability issues. Yet, as Silvant also notes, the frameworks and processes used are often project specific – the technical specifications of HVDC modules being custom proprietary ones.
It is also entirely possible that interoperability may be insufficient to enable the interconnection of HVDC transmission assets, which is why there should also be a compatibility in the system topologies, configurations, and ratings. These incompatibilities may be solved by innovative interfacing structures like DC/DC converters, but would also bring additional costs and are not yet mature. “Because of these high vendor lock-in costs caused by the lack of the correct multi-vendor interoperability frameworks, the risks in developing multi-vendor projects are therefore still too high – at present,” says Silvant.
That said, InterOPERA will continue to proceed by developing control and protection systems for the different grid elements, including offshore and onshore AC/DC converters, power pack modules, switching stations and controllers. “The technical solutions developed in InterOPERA will result in changes in the design of new project development and procurement schemes,” Silvant adds, “splitting the system into different potentially smaller lots, assigning associated responsibilities and liabilities to the different stakeholders.”
“It is difficult or even impossible to connect currently planned and built HVDC connections to an increasingly interconnected and meshed offshore grid.”
Sébastien Silvant
It is worth noting that non-EU states such as the UK and Norway are represented in InterOPERA – the UK through GE Renewables and Norway via the participation of Statnett and Equinor. However, this doesn’t entirely eliminate the prospect of policy divergence between EU and non-EU states. Indeed, the UK’s Aquila project currently runs in parallel to InterOPERA. However, there is a strong desire shared by Europe and the UK to mitigate divergence as much as possible, according to Silvant – not least because “any divergence could lead to a market with different standards in different regions and, more problematically, incompatibility of HVDC infrastructures that could otherwise be interconnected offshore in the North Sea”. To this end, a consultation process is planned to ensure all relevant actors involved in the project directly or indirectly have the ability to review and
0.4GW
The total energy capacity of the existing German– Danish Kassø- Frøslev energy island, also known as Kriegers Flak. WindEurope
300GW
The offshore wind capacity that the EU is looking to build by 2050. European Commission
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