Abstract
Most offshore wind farms built thus far are based on waters below 30 m deep, either using big diameter steel monopiles or a gravity base. Now, offshore windfarms are starting to be installed in deeper waters and the use of these structures—used for oil and gas like jackets and tripods—is becoming more competitive. Setting aside these calls for direct or fixed foundations, and thinking of water depths beyond 50 m, there is a completely new line of investigation focused on the usage of floating structures; TLP (tension leg platform), Spar (large deep craft cylindrical floating caisson), and semisubmersible are the most studied. We analyze these in detail at the end of this document. Nevertheless, it is foreseen that we must still wait sometime before these solutions, based on floating structures, can become truth from a commercial point of view, due to the higher cost, rather than direct or fixed foundations. In addition, it is more likely that some technical modifications in the wind turbines will have to be implemented to improve their function. Regarding wind farm connections to grid, it can be found from traditional designs such as radial, star or ring. On the other hand, for wind generator modeling, classifications can be established, modeling the wind turbine and modeling the wind farm. Finally, for the wind generator control, the main strategies are: passive stall, active stall, and pitch control; and when it is based on wind generation zone: fixed speed and variable speed. Lastly, the trend is to use strategies based on synchronous machines, as the permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) and the wound rotor synchronous generator (WRSG).
Highlights
The world’s fastest growing energy source is wind energy [1]
Focusing on offshore wind farms, the most important works are those related to HVDC connection to the transmission system [128] and its relationship with doubly fed induction generators [129], control and design of DC grids [130], and the prospect for cost reduction [131]
The construction of foundations for the offshore wind turbine industry still faces many technical challenges that should be solved on a case-by-case basis
Summary
The world’s fastest growing energy source is wind energy [1]. Many countries have most of their wind farms onshore [2,3]. It is due to similar construction requirements in terms of distance to shore, huge cost of geotechnical campaign, as well as dependency of these offshore installation tools, which are very restricted and expensive [10,11] In this sense, engineering, construction, and installation companies already working in the oil and gas industry have played a key role in the development of offshore windfarms [12]. Offshore windfarms were developed close to shore with shallow waters and with favorable technical conditions In this scenario, foundations were installed up to 20 meters water depth, characterized by sandy sea beds, which allowed their driving into or laying down of gravity base structures [15,16].
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