Semco Maritime to Study Offshore Wind Grid Links

Semco Maritime has won a study to identify the break-even point of high voltage direct current (HVDC) and high voltage alternating current (HVAC) transmission for a large-scale offshore wind farm.

Offshore wind farms are trending up in size, as well as the distance from the onshore connection these days. A key technological aspect that is heavily influenced by this change is the transmission system, i.e. the technology used to transmit the generated wind power to a connection point onshore.

The scope of the study is to evaluate the break-even point of an alternating current (HVAC) transmission design versus that of a direct current (HVDC) transmission design in two dimensions.

The first dimension is the size of the wind farm, and the second dimension is the distance to the connection point onshore.

The output of the study will be technical concepts and life cycle costs for both solutions, i.e. capital investment needed and operational expenditures for the lifetime of the asset.

“We are very proud to have been selected for this exciting study as we recognise the increased need for performing these crucial evaluations at the very early concept stage of large-scale offshore wind farms located far off the coast,” said Tommy Flindt, Director of Engineering & Technology, Offshore Wind, Semco Maritime.

“Given our 18+ years of experience within offshore wind transmission systems, we are confident that we can deliver this study with the needed accuracy, providing the input required for the right business decision-making for our client.”