Optimal design of an offshore wind farm layout

The cost of offshore wind farms are about 30-60% higher than onshore wind farms of same capacity. The cost and efficiency of offshore wind farms are determined by variety of factors which include the type of electrical system (AC or DC), transmission length, transmission voltage, rated power, wind turbine type and the farm topology, and wind speed. Since the design variable space is large for such problems, computational optimization is necessary to find an optimal solution. We discuss the development of cost, loss and reliability models and the application of geometric program for optimization of the layout and configuration of an offshore wind farm. Preliminary calculations show that HVAC systems work better for short distances of the farm from the shore and the HVDC system performed better for longer distances.