Study on the optimization strategy of offshore wind power

Abstract

Offshore wind power is considered a promising renewable energy, unfortunately, its weighted average levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) is still too high to compete with renewable energies such as photovoltaics, this is in large part due to the high construction cost of offshore wind power, even though it has fallen substantially with technological advances and the accumulation of experience. This paper optimizes the cost from two aspects, since large-scale wind farms have better bargaining and scheduling power, we analyze in detail the relationship between the cost of different key components and the scale of the wind farm, and, if the decommissioned wind farm chooses to repower, costs such as cables and foundations can be saved, which can further reduce the costs. Our studies show that compared to a 400 MW offshore wind farm, a 1,000 MW can reduce the unit cost by about 10.3%, and its cost is about 13,239 RMB/kW, if repowering is chosen, a further reduction of about 28.6%, its cost is about 9,450 RMB/kW. We recommend using larger offshore wind farms and choosing repowering after they are decommissioned to get better economics.