Abstract
Abstract. This study uses a unique set of hourly wind speed data observed over a period of 16 years to quantify the potential of collective offshore wind power production. We address the well-known intermittency problem of wind power for five locations along the Norwegian continental shelf. Mitigation of wind power intermittency is investigated using a hypothetical electricity grid. The degree of mitigation is examined by connecting different configurations of the sites. Along with the wind power smoothing effect, we explore the risk probability of the occurrence and duration of wind power shutdown due to too low or high winds. Typical large-scale atmospheric situations resulting in long term shutdown periods are identified. We find that both the wind power variability and the risk of not producing any wind power decrease significantly with an increasing array of connected sites. The risk of no wind power production for a given hour is reduced from the interval 8.0 %–11.2 % for a single site to under 4 % for two sites. Increasing the array size further reduces the risk, but to a lesser extent. The average atmospheric weather pattern resulting in wind speed that is too low (too high) to produce wind power is associated with a high-pressure (low-pressure) system near the production sites.
Highlights
Renewable power generation from various sources is continuously increasing
We use the median (q2) and interquartile range (IQR) as a measure of the middle value and the spread in the data, respectively. Both q2 and IQR are independent of the data distribution, which makes them adequate choices to represent the statistical characteristics of the wind power data
In this study we quantified the effect of collective offshore wind power production using five sites on the Norwegian continental shelf, which constitutes a unique set of hourly wind speed data observed over a period of 16 years
Summary
Renewable power generation from various sources is continuously increasing This is a desired development due to, among others things, emission goals that are linked to mitigation of global warming. A study by Bosch et al (2018) has found the global offshore wind energy potential to be 329.6 TWh, with over 50 % of this potential being in deep waters (> 60 m) These numbers underline the need to take advantage of the floating offshore wind energy source with a view to addressing the continuous growth in global energy consumption. The wind varies on both spatial and temporal scales, ranging from small features existing for a few seconds to large and slowly evolving climatological patterns This intermittency results in a considerable variability on different time and spatial scales, leading to highly fluctuating power production and even power discontinuities of various durations
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