Simultaneous Optimisation of Cable Connection Schemes and Capacity for Offshore Wind Farms via a Modified Bat Algorithm

Yuanhang Qi,Peng Hou,Liang Yang,Guangya Yang

doi:10.3390/app9020265

Abstract

Offshore wind energy has attracted worldwide attention and investments in the last decade due to the stability and abundance of wind resources. As one of the main components of this, internal array cables have a great impact on the levelised cost of energy of offshore wind farms, and thus their connection layout is a matter of concern. In this paper, a classical mathematical problem—the traveling salesman problem, which belongs to the field of graph theory—is applied to solve the offshore wind farm cable connection layout optimization problem. Both the capital investment on cables, cable laying, and the cost of power losses associated with array cables are considered in the proposed model. A modified bat algorithm is presented to resolve the problem. Furthermore, a cable crossing detection method is also adopted to avoid obtaining crossed cable connection layouts. The effectiveness was verified through a case study.

Highlights

As one of the most environmentally friendly renewable energies, the wind is an ideal resource for meeting the greatly increasing electricity demand while reducing the impacts on the environment [1].According to the statistics of the European Wind Energy Association, 15.6% of total power capacity was from wind energy in 2015, which has a 13.2% increased share of the market compared to the data in 2000 [2]
The first model (BA_MIN) forms the cable connection layout scheme according to the minimum cross-sectional cable selection rule, which means the thinnest cable that satisfies the cable current constraint will be selected
Each algorithm is run 10 times independently, and the best results are selected as the global optimal solution

Summary

Introduction

As one of the most environmentally friendly renewable energies, the wind is an ideal resource for meeting the greatly increasing electricity demand while reducing the impacts on the environment [1]. According to the statistics of the European Wind Energy Association, 15.6% of total power capacity was from wind energy in 2015, which has a 13.2% increased share of the market compared to the data in 2000 [2]. Offshore wind energy has unique advantages [3] such as higher energy density, stable wind distribution as well as reduced impacts on residents. The huge investment an offshore wind farm represents makes the economic operation infeasible without subsidies at an earlier time. Technological innovation and development to lower the levelised cost of energy (LCoE) of the wind farm are attracting attention globally

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion