Thesis
Cost-effective energy transfer for offshore wind
- Creator
- Rights statement
- Awarding institution
- University of Strathclyde
- Date of award
- 2025
- Thesis identifier
- T17255
- Person Identifier (Local)
- 202083317
- Qualification Level
- Qualification Name
- Department, School or Faculty
- Abstract
- Offshore wind and green hydrogen have the potential to help address the energy trilemma of sustainability, security, and affordability. However, their high cost remains one of the main barriers to their rapid development. Using DC collection systems in offshore wind farms has the potential to make the transfer of electrical energy to shore more cost-effective by reducing the size of offshore platforms or by removing them entirely. Similarly, co-locating electrolysers and wind turbines without a grid connection can make the transfer of chemical energy more cost-effective by removing the need for the offshore platform, export cables, and collector cables. The first part of this thesis identifies the most promising DC wind farm configurations and carries out a cost-benefit analysis. The results show that all-DC wind farms can lower the levelised cost of electricity, depending on factors such as the DC/DC converter costs, platform costs, and collector voltage. A multi-objective optimisation is then carried out for four promising DC/DC converter topologies, and their performance is compared in terms of reliability, volume, weight, and losses. The optimal operating frequency for each of the selected topologies is also determined. The results show that the single-phase single active bridge operating at 2.5 kHz or the three-phase dual active bridge operating at 1 kHz are optimal. The second part of the thesis investigates the technical challenges associated with a standalone wind turbine and electrolyser system. A complete control system is developed to allow off-grid operation, and three strategies are proposed to balance the power between the wind turbine and electrolyser. The levelised cost of hydrogen is then investigated for each power balancing strategy, as well as for three alternative DC-based drivetrains to improve the system efficiency. The results show that using supercapacitor energy storage and the standard AC-based drivetrain is the most realistic and cost-effective option.
- Advisor / supervisor
- Egea Álvarez, Agustí
- Gkountaras, Aris
- Resource Type
- DOI
- Date Created
- 2024
- Funder
Relations
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PDF of thesis T17255 | 2025-05-01 | Public | Download |