Offshore Wind Power Plant and Electrical Network Development: Romanian Case Study
Publication: Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 144, Issue 2
Abstract
This paper presents the technical and economic interaction with the grid of an offshore wind power plant development in Romania, on the coastal area of the Black Sea. Offshore wind power plants are currently very expensive and they can hardly compete with other power plants, even onshore wind power plants. In the context of capital costs decreasing over time, of possible European Union incentivizing schemes, and of requirements resulted from the twenty-first Conference of Parties (COP 21), this paper analyzes the economics of offshore developments in Romania considering the current status of the national grid. The results of the study provide guidance on project economics and development, and also on the need for transmission grid development. The results indicate that an investment starting within a few years on the Black Sea coastal area has economic potential for a large offshore wind power plant with additional costs for grid strengthening limited to 10% of the main investment. No strengthening investments may be required if the plant capacity is limited to 264 MW.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Ahmed, T., Mekhilef, S., Shah, R., Mithulanantha, N., Seyedmahmoudian, M., and Horan, B. (2017). “ASEAN power grid: A secure transmission infrastructure for clean and sustainable energy for South-East Asia.” Renew. Sust. Energ. Rev., 67, 1420–1435.
ANRE (Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority). (2013). “The regulation regarding the grid connection of users to the public networks.” ⟨http://www.anre.ro⟩ (Sep. 25, 2016).
ANRE (Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority). (2014a). “The methodology for setting the tariffs for the connection of users to the public networks.” ⟨http://www.anre.ro/ro/legislatie/norme-tehnice/racordare-la-retele-de-interes-public⟩ (Sep. 30, 2016).
ANRE (Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority). (2014b). “The modification and completion of the methodology for setting the tariffs for the connection of users to the public network.” ⟨http://www.anre.ro/ro/legislatie/norme-tehnice/racordare-la-retele-de-interes-public⟩ (Sep. 30, 2016).
ANRE (Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority). (2014c). “The specific tariffs and indices used for establishing the grid connection tariffs for the connection of users to the public networks.” ⟨http://www.anre.ro/ro/legislatie/norme-tehnice/racordare-la-retele-de-interes-public⟩ (Sep. 29, 2016).
ANRE (Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority). (2015). “Framework contract for the connection to the public networks.” ⟨http://www.anre.ro/ro/legislatie/norme-tehnice/racordare-la-retele-de-interes-public⟩ (Sep. 26, 2016).
Beccali, M., Galletto, J., Noto, L., and Provenza, R. (2015). “Assessment of the technical and economic potential of offshore wind energy via a GIS application. A case study for the Sicily region according to Italian laws and incentive frameworks.” Proc., 4th Int. Conf. on Renewable Energy Research and Applications (ICRERA 2015), IEEE, New York, 1342–1347.
European Commission. (2016). “Directive of the European Parliament and of the council.” ⟨https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/economy-finance-and-euro-publications_en⟩ (Nov. 20, 2016).
European Commission. (2017). “Directive of the European Parliament and of the council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (recast).” ⟨http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52016PC0767R%2801%29⟩ (Feb. 23, 2017).
Gil, M. D., Dominguez-Garcia, J. L., Diaz-Gonzalez, F., Aragues-Penalba, M., and Gomis-Bellmunt, O. (2015). “Feasibility analysis of offshore wind power plants with DC collection grid.” Renew. Energy, 78, 467–477.
IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency). (2016). “The power to change: Solar and wind cost reduction potential to 2025.” ⟨http://www.irena.org/DocumentDownloads/Publications/IRENA_Power_to_Change_2016.pdf⟩ (Sep. 30, 2016).
Lopes, A. F. (2016). “The economic potential value of offshore wind in the north of Portugal.” Proc., 13th Int. Conf. on the European Energy Market (EEM), IEEE, New York, 1–5.
Lu, X., McElroy, M. B., Chen, X. Y., and Kang, C. Q. (2014). “Opportunity for offshore wind to reduce future demand for coal-fired power plants in china with consequent savings in emissions of .” Environ. Sci. Technol., 48(24), 14764–14771.
Machado, J., Neves, M. V., and Santos, P. J. (2015). “Economic limitations of the HVAC transmission system when applied to offshore wind farms.” Proc., 9th Int. Conf. on Compatibility and Power Electronics (CPE), IEEE, New York, 69–75.
Ministry of Energy. (2016). “Romanian energy strategy, 2016–2030, with prospects for 2050.” ⟨http://www.mmediu.ro/articol/strategia-energetica-a-romaniei-2016-2030-cu-perspectiva-anului-2050/2143⟩ (Sep. 29, 2016).
PSS/E version 33.7.0 [Computer software]. Siemens, Munich, Germany.
Richts, C., Jansen, M., and Siefert, M. (2015). “Determining the economic value of offshore wind power plants in the changing energy system.” Energy Proc., 80, 422–432.
Sava, G. N., Costinaş, S., Golovanov, N., Leva, S., and Duong, M. Q. (2014). “Comparison of active crowbar protection schemes for DFIGs wind turbines.” Proc., 16th Int. Conf. on Harmonics and Quality of Power (ICHQP), IEEE, New York, 669–673.
Scripcariu, M., Sava, G. N., Pluteanu, Ş., and Costinaş, S. (2016). “Technical and economic requirements for developing large offshore wind power plants in Romania—Black Sea.” Proc., 16th IEEE Int. Conf. on Environment and Electrical Engineering (EEEIC), IEEE, New York, 1–6.
Tabors, R. D., Omondi, L., Rudkevich, A., Goldis, E., and Amoako-Gyan, K. (2015). “Price suppression and emissions reductions with offshore wind: An analysis of the impact of increased capacity in New England.” 48th Hawaii Int. Conf. on System Sciences (HICSS), IEEE, New York, 1–10.
Transelectrica. (2016). “RET development plan for 2016–2025.” ⟨http://www.transelectrica.ro/web/tel/plan-perspectiva⟩ (Sep. 26, 2016).
Wang, Q., Wen, F., Yang, A., and Huang, J. (2011). “Cost analysis and pricing policy of wind power in China.” J. Energy Eng., 138–150.
Wind Europe. (2016). “The European offshore wind industry—Key trends and statistics 2016.” ⟨https://windeurope.org/about-wind/statistics/offshore/european-offshore-wind-industry-key-trends-and-statistics-2016/⟩ (Sep. 27, 2016).
Xia, J., Dysko, A., and O’Reilly, J. (2015). “Future stability challenges for the UK network with high wind penetration levels.” IET Gener. Transm. Distrib., 9(11), 116–1167.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 144 • Issue 2 • April 2018
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 28, 2017
Accepted: Aug 3, 2017
Published online: Dec 20, 2017
Published in print: Apr 1, 2018
Discussion open until: May 20, 2018
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.