Hybrid Versus Radial Offshore Wind Connections: Power Grid Investments in the North Sea

To enable offshore wind in the North Sea to take a key, rapid role in the European energy transition, massive grid expansions and investments are required. We consider the impact of such grid expansion in the North Sea on the future European power prices. To this end, we compare, using the power-system model EMPIRE, a scenario in which wind farms can only connect to their own countries, and a scenario in which the wind farms can connect both to other countries and all other wind farms. Uncertainty is implemented in the hourly power load as well as the renewable power production in each system node. The nodes in this work represent the countries in the European power system as well as the major wind farm projects in the North Sea.Our results indicate that allowing the offshore wind farms to connect to other countries and wind farms can have a significant impact on the power prices in the different prize zones. These observed effects depend on the level of investments in the North Sea wind farms. Furthermore, allowing for interconnections between countries through the North Sea wind farms significantly increases the investments in the North Sea by means of much larger wind farm capacities and comprehensive grid development. Our results also highlight how certain offshore wind farm nodes may be mainly used for electric power export, rather than covering the domestic power demand. For such wind farms, an interconnected North Sea grid will be critical for attracting large-scale offshore wind investments.