Studies for Characterisation of Electrical Properties of DC Collection System in Offshore Wind Farms
Yu-Hsing Chen, Catalin Gabriel Dincan, Rolant Joannesarson Olsen, Marie-Christine Schimmelmann, Philip Carne Kjær, Claus Leth Bak · VBN Forskningsportal (Aalborg Universitet) · 2016
Offshore HVDC-connected wind farms can with advantage let the wind plant power collection network become DC, rather than AC, promising reduced electrical losses, lower bill-of-material cost and undimished functionality. However, no standards exist for an offshore medium-voltage DC power collection cable-based system, routing power from MVDC wind turbines all the way to the HVDC export cable. To progress, it is therefore important to establish some common reference for the design and performance of the components needed in an MVDC collection network. Any suggested MVDC collection solution must be possible to characterise and evaluate through a series of case studies. This paper proposes a methodology to simulate the MVDC collection network and thereby find suitable ratings of its components. The methodology is intended to allow studies on any configuration of the MVDC power collection, regardless of choice of turbine converter circuit, MVDC cable configuration, use of DC circuit breakers, substation converter circuit, control and protection. The paper will present the necessary list of studies, and include examples of simulation results for an examplary MVDC wind power plant.