Connecting large offshore wind farms to the transmission network

Wind over the sea is more constant and undisturbed than on land. There are no hills, mountains or valleys in the way to slow wind or redirect wind. This ends in a more constant wind flow and with less direction changes. This improves the energy efficiency of the installed wind turbines. From experiences made in Europe mainly in Germany, the impact of the location of a wind farm can make large differences in annually wind energy generation. Efficiency can differ from 10 – 20 % on land to 70 – 80 % at sea. This high efficiency range is driving the exploration to offshore wind farms, even when the connection to the grid has some very specific requirements: Building offshore and maintaining in an unpleasant ambience with salty air. Especially in Europe where governmental goals are fixed for each member state of the European Union (EU) the development of offshore wind farms is strongly proceeding.