Smart Switch Configuration and Reliability Assessment Method for Electrical Collector Systems in Offshore Wind Farms

With the rapid expansion of offshore wind farms (OWFs) in remote regions, the study of highly reliable electrical collector systems (ECSs) has become increasingly important. Post-fault network recovery is considered as an effective measure of reliability enhancement. In this paper, we propose a smart switch configuration that facilitates network recovery, making it well-suited for ECSs operating in harsh environments. To accommodate the increased complexity of ECSs, a novel reliability assessment (RA) method considering detailed switch configuration is devised. This method effectively identifies the minimum outage propagation areas and incorporates post-fault network recovery strategies. The optimal normal operating state and network reconfiguration strategies that maximize ECS reliability can be obtained after optimization. Case studies on real-life OWFs validate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed RA method compared with the traditional sequential Monte-Carlo simulation method. Moreover, numerical tests demonstrate that the proposed switch configuration, in conjunction with proper topology and network recovery, achieves the highest benefits across a wide range of operating conditions.