Abstract
As floating wind farms move from pilot projects to commercial-scale installations they will move further offshore and into deeper water. There will be a requirement for offshore substations to deliver the electricity to shore, for which floating support structures will be the preferred solution. This paper describes the challenges and development of solutions for commercial-scale HVAC and HVDC floating offshore substations.
Two different floating substation concepts have been developed. Layouts for the electrical and ancillary equipment were initially developed, to enable efficient packaging and structural efficiency for the topsides. By integrating the hull and topsides, the overall mass of the structure is minimised, benefitting stability and reducing hull size. Hydrodynamic analysis of the substructures was performed and structural code checks on the hull and topsides were carried out in Sesam. Mooring designs for each structure for 250m water depth have been developed and analysed in Orcaflex.
It is likely that alternating current (HVAC) export to shore will be used for shorter transmission distances and direct current (HVDC) will be used for longer transmission distances. HVDC and HVAC floating substations will have quite different hull forms. The larger topsides footprint and greater mass of the HVDC conversion equipment make a conventional semi-submersible hull form efficient when allied to a stressed-skin topsides structure. The smaller footprint, lighter weight and differing requirements for protection from the elements of the HVAC topsides make this inefficient, so a deep draught semi-submersible with a hybrid topsides is the preferred solution.
It is concluded that floating substations suitable for large, commercial-scale wind farms will be the chosen solution for anything other than shallow water or close to shore.
Model of Early Stage Intermediate in Respect to Its Final Structure
