Grid Integration

The development of strategies and tools to integrate offshore wind power into the electricity supply system is a crucial prerequisite for the future expansion of offshore wind energy in Germany. The research project “Grid integration of offshore wind farms” will develop strategies and demonstrate tools for the integration of offshore wind farms into the German electricity supply system. The project focuses on reducing the need for balancing energy and reserve power with an advanced wind power forecasting system and on ensuring the safety and reliability of the supply system by improving the operational control of offshore wind farms with the Wind Farm Cluster Management System. Power output measurements of the wind farm alpha ventus will be analysed together with meteorological data and measurements at the grid connection point. The project is structured in three work packages:

1. In a first step large power fluctuations, which are caused by the concentration of generation on a large wind farms, will be analysed and a model will be developed which allows the description of the fluctuating nature of offshore wind power generation. The power fluctuations for a future expansion of offshore wind power in Germany will be assessed using this model.

2. A second aim is to reduce the balancing and reserve power needed to integrate offshore wind power in the German electricity supply system. Based on the first step an offshore specific wind power forecasting model will be developed.

3. The fluctuating offshore wind power generation has to be integrated into the electrical supply system. The third part of the project focuses on the development of strategies and improvement of tools for the operational control of wind power. The aggregation of several offshore wind farms as well as of distributed wind farms on land to clusters in the gigawatt range allows the operational control of wind power in a similar way as conventional power plants. The test and verification of these strategies will be performed in the framework of the RAVE initiative.