Floating Offshore Wind May Deliver Billions in Worth to the US West Coast

RICHLAND, Washington — A brand new report from Pacific Northwest Nationwide Laboratory exhibits that alongside a 200-mile stretch of ocean off the coast of southern Oregon and northern California, floating wind farms may doubtlessly triple the Pacific Northwest’s wind energy capability whereas offsetting doubtlessly billions of {dollars} in prices for utilities, ratepayers, insurance coverage firms, and others throughout the West who bear the price of local weather change’s results.

“This analysis is all about unlocking an untapped supply of provide the place there’s restricted transmission and little skill to maneuver that electrical energy right now,” mentioned Travis Douville, lead creator on the report and an advisor at PNNL who leads analysis on integrating wind power into the grid. “Offshore wind affords an enormous alternative to decarbonize the western United States.”

The nation’s energy provide is break up into three separate grids, with the western interconnection offering energy to greater than 80 million individuals over 14 states within the western United States and two Canadian provinces. The brand new report dives into future eventualities the place floating offshore wind farms are related to the shore between Coos Bay, OR, and Eureka, CA, by way of giant transmission strains — and the worth these wind farms may deliver to utilities and ratepayers alike.

The advantages of offshore wind

Land-based wind farms throughout the USA already produce greater than 140 gigawatts of power, contributing to about 10% of the nation’s power portfolio. At the moment, the federal authorities goals to put in 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030 and to extend that quantity to 110 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2050. That a lot wind energy may energy tens of million of houses and reduce greater than 78 million metric tons of carbon emissions.

One of many perks of offshore wind generators — whether or not they’re hooked up to the ocean flooring or floating on the floor — versus land-based is that wind over the ocean is much less variable and extra constant, mentioned Mark Severy, a analysis engineer at PNNL and coauthor on the report. Wind over land is mostly extra variable as a result of it could be influenced by the complicated relationship between the ambiance and landscapes like mountains, valleys, flat plains, or forests.

Wind over the ocean additionally tends to peak within the evenings, which may assist provide energy when photo voltaic power dips because the solar units, Severy mentioned. In locations like California, the place photo voltaic power makes up a lot of the renewable energy, utilities may flip to wind energy within the evenings, when demand typically goes up, as an alternative of fossil fuels to energy houses.

Modeling floating offshore wind power

To fulfill the nation’s bold wind energy objectives, potential offshore wind farms have to be rigorously studied and deliberate. And together with constructing floating wind generators within the ocean, researchers can even have to determine how you can deliver the facility they generate to land and join it with {the electrical} grid.

One problem is figuring out whether or not already current transmission infrastructure may help incoming power from offshore wind. In a earlier examine, Douville and different researchers discovered that offshore wind may provide 3 gigawatts of power with upgrades to Oregon’s present transmission strains. That’s sufficient power to energy 1 million houses.

However what about sooner or later, with extra transmission strains and an elevated skill to move power? “How do you harness offshore wind power in a approach that lets you adequately, reliably, and resiliently provide electrical energy sooner or later at lowest price?” Douville mentioned. “And what’s the position of transmission design to affect the worth of offshore wind?”

To search out out, the staff modeled completely different transmission eventualities, two of which signify a future the place offshore wind farms and new, highly effective transmission strains add a further 20 gigawatts value of wind energy to the western interconnection. Each eventualities embrace high-voltage direct present (HVDC) transmission strains to hold energy, which might then be transformed to alternating present (AC) as soon as onshore (DC can transmit increased voltages and thus extra power, however must be transformed to AC to be distributed to the tip customers).

The 2 eventualities differ in whether or not every wind farm is related individually to shore (in a radial construction) or whether or not the wind farms are related to one another, then to shore (a spine construction).

Though each transmission eventualities supplied hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in worth, the spine construction affords barely completely different advantages, Severy mentioned. Within the radial state of affairs, energy can solely go to at least one place — wherever the wind farm is related on the coast — after which distributed from there. Within the spine construction, energy might be diverted up and down the coast.

Of their investigation of the financial advantages of floating offshore wind, researchers checked out two completely different ways in which the generated energy might be delivered to shore. One was a radial construction, by which particular person wind farms (represented by a single wind turbine within the above picture) are every related to shore the place energy is delivered. (Illustration by Stephanie King for Pacific Northwest Nationwide Laboratory)

Of their investigation of the financial advantages of offshore wind, researchers checked out two completely different ways in which the generated energy might be delivered to shore. The second construction known as a spine, by which the wind farms are related to one another, then related to shore at fewer factors. (Illustration by Stephanie King for Pacific Northwest Nationwide Laboratory)

For instance, “in instances when there’s extra photo voltaic era in California, we discovered that the spine offers one other pathway for that electrical energy to go to the Pacific Northwest and when there’s a whole lot of hydropower within the Pacific Northwest, the spine is one other pathway south, exterior of the congested transmission strains on the I-5 hall,” Severy mentioned.

Though both choice could be costly, “the advantages exceed the prices in practically each state of affairs,” Douville mentioned. In these eventualities the place advantages exceed the prices, the values of the varied returns on funding vary between $127 million to $6 billion. These numbers signify financial savings to supply and provide energy in addition to averted price of the results of air air pollution and destruction wrought by climate-change-related disasters.

Challenges for offshore wind growth

Douville careworn that many extra questions have to be answered earlier than an offshore wind plan might be executed. Many of those questions will come into concentrate on the West Coast Offshore Wind Transmission Examine, which kicked off in Could 2023 and goals to find out how the nation can broaden transmission to harness offshore wind energy on the West Coast.

For example, researchers and policymakers want to contemplate how transmission strains will fare underwater. Sea flooring depth and slope may have an effect on the place cable might be laid, and salt water might be very corrosive, mentioned Jason Fuller, chief power resilience engineer at PNNL. Upkeep might be robust, relying on how deep the cables are laid. As well as, the nation merely hasn’t used HVDC as a lot as AC on the grid, and modeling HVDC with present instruments might be troublesome. PNNL researchers are engaged on modeling the efficiency of HVDC strains to help the offshore wind work.

Researchers and policymakers can even have to contemplate different stakeholders who rely on the ocean, together with fisheries and different coastal communities.

“Early coordinated transmission planning results in extra economical options, for utilities, ratepayers, and society as an entire,” mentioned Douville. “If we plan now for what we predict the grid will appear like 20 years from now, and policymakers can use these insights to information growth, we’re going to finish up with a greater resolution.”

This work was funded by the Nationwide Offshore Wind Analysis and Improvement Consortium and the Bureau of Ocean Power Administration.

Article courtesy of Pacific Northwest Nationwide Laboratory.

Featured illustration Pacific Northwest Nationwide Laboratory.