Power system analysis of an offshore wind farm based on different layouts

The electrical systems needed for offshore wind farms to collect power from wind turbines and transmit it to shore will be significant for a wind farm planning. A large-scale offshore wind farm may be designed with different configurations, which would cause different costs, efficiency and reliability. The paper presents different possible configurations for a real offshore wind farm planning in Taiwan and analyzes their advantages and weak points from the system point of view. Three basic designs for an approximately 200MW wind farm are identified in this study, including radial design, star design, and ring design. Next, various steady-state and transient power system analyses were implemented to evaluate the performance for different wind farm configurations. These analyses include steady-state operation voltage, transmission losses, fault current, system contingency, wind speed variation, and short circuit fault.