Export cable rating optimisation by wind power ramp and thermal risk estimation

Abstract

Abstract This paper demonstrates the impact of using realistic wind power generation profiles, time‐varying ocean bottom temperatures and hypothetical wind farm over‐planting scenarios on export cable capacity optimisation. Given the inherent risk in over‐planting, a novel hour ahead thermal risk estimation method was developed to foresee and mitigate cable temperature exceedance, employing a preventive curtailment. Two offshore wind farm locations L1(North‐west European Shelf) and L2(Australian Shelf) have been chosen for testing but utilising real wind and ocean bottom temperature data. These simulated results demonstrate a 10% rating increment over the static rating in L1 resulted in a 13% increment in the amount of energy delivered over a year (MWh/year) without any risk or instances of thermal overheating. Similarly, a 9.8% rating increment in L2 resulted in a 13.6% increment in annual energy transmission (MWh/year). The financial increment for both over‐planting scenarios was approximately £9 million/year for the studied cases.

Keywords

• Wind power plants
• Optimisation techniques
• Power cables