Transmission Excellence has completed a study of how the cost of transmitting the power output of offshore wind farms to shore has varied over time. The study looks back to the earliest transmission-connected offshore wind projects and forward to far-offshore wind farms with as much as 170km of cable between the wind farm and the onshore grid.
The study, which was undertaken for the Offshore Wind Programme Board’s Grid Group, concludes that the industry has been remarkably successful in keeping per-MWhr transmission costs at a broadly constant level despite transmission distances increasing enormously. It also shows that, by applying technical advances identified by the Grid Group, it should be possible to maintain this success with future far-offshore projects.
The report may be downloaded here.