Cost-effective connection of offshore wind farms using output prediction and control

Offshore wind developments promise to be the most rapid and effective deployment of largescale renewable energy seen to date. The offshore wind farms will require large investments, averaging near 150 million Euro for a 100 MW farm. Consequently, the financing of the projects and the anticipated returns are under close scrutiny. Since power collection and grid connection costs typically amount to about 25% of the total investment for an offshore wind project, this is an important technical aspect that remains to be optimised in order to achieve the most cost-effective implementations.