Techno-economic assessment of offshore wind and hybrid wind–wave farms with energy storage systems

Abstract

Ocean renewables (such as offshore wind and wave) are abundant and essential energy resources for supporting future emission-free targets. However, their energy intermittency and high cost have hindered commercialization and wide-scale implementations of these ocean energy technologies. This paper focuses on both issues and aims to increase the dispatchability of ocean energy farms by investigating the potential of a hybrid wind and wave energy platform with energy storage systems (ESS). This research introduces an innovative method to assess the necessary ESS capacity for offshore renewable energy farms, ensuring energy dispatchability to the local demand. In addition, the key criteria and the economic feasibility of deploying ESS in offshore energy farms are also discussed. A life-cycle cost model is presented that quantitatively compares different farm configurations, specifically a standalone offshore wind farm and a hybrid configuration incorporating both wind and wave generation systems. The results indicate that the combined wind and wave energy farm significantly reduces the ESS requirement and provides competitive lifecycle costs compared to the stand-alone wind energy farm, though the amount of these benefits vary on the local resource characteristics. The quantitative assessment presented in this study also provides realistic and practical justifications for combined energy farms that complement statistical conclusions derived from variability indexes in previous studies.