Combined approach based on ACO with MTSP for optimal internal electrical system design of large offshore wind farm

The wind turbine (WT) layout and electrical system layout plays a vital role in offshore wind farm (OWF) design. The wake effect has a significant impact on the power production of the OWF. WTs in wake region will not experience healthy wind; hence it affects the power production. The proper placement of WTs can reduce the wake effect in OWF. The optimal design of large OWF is based on combined approach of Ant colony optimization (ACO) with multiple travelling salesmen problem (MTSP) is presented. The objectives of the approach are to improve power production, minimize the length of cable and cable cost. By considering (a) placement of WT with consideration of wake effect, (b) placement of substation, (c) selection of submarine cables with higher reliability and minimal power loss, and (d) minimum length of WT cable routing with zero cross connection. ACO-MTSP approach is applied on large OWF connected with 280 WTs and results are compared with the outcome of reference OWF.