A novel techno-economical layout optimization tool for floating wind farm design

• Published in: Wind Energy Science Vol. 9; no. 2; pp. 417 - 438
• Main Authors: Hietanen, Amalia Ida, Thor Heine Snedker, Dykes, Katherine, Bayati, Ilmas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Göttingen Copernicus GmbH 21.02.2024; Copernicus Publications
• Subjects: Cables; Capital expenditures; Costs; Economics; Electrical transmission; Electricity; Floating; Mooring lines; Mooring systems; Net present value; Objective function; Offshore; Optimization; Parameters; Turbines; Variables; Wind; Wind farms
• ISSN: 2366-7443; 2366-7451
• DOI: 10.5194/wes-9-417-2024

Over the past few years, the offshore wind sector has been subject to renewed yet growing interest from the industry and from the research sphere, with a particular focus on a recently developed concept, the floating offshore wind (FOW). Because of its novelty, floating research material is found in limited quantity. This paper focuses on the layout optimization of a floating offshore wind farm (FOWF) considering multiple parameters and engineering constraints, combining floating-specific parameters together with economic indicators. Today’s common wind farm layout optimization codes do not take into account either floating-specific technical parameters (anchors, mooring lines, inter-array cables (IACs), etc.) or non-technical parameters (operational expenditure, OPEX; capital expenditure, CAPEX; and other techno-economic project parameters). In this paper, a multi-parametric objective function is used in the optimization of the layout of a FOWF, combining the annual energy production (AEP) together with the costs that depend on the layout. The mooring system and the collection system including the inter-array cables and the offshore substation are identified as layout-dependent and therefore modeled in the optimization loop. Using ScotWind site 10 as a study case, it was found with the predefined technical and economic assumptions that the profit was increased by EUR 34.5 million compared to a grid-based layout. The main drivers were identified to be the AEP, followed by the anchors and the availability associated with the failures of inter-array cables.