Going Deep for Wind

BUILDING A MID-ATLANTIC OFFSHORE WIND INDUSTRY

Published In: EnergyBiz Magazine January/February 2011

Strong networks are the foundation of a modern economy. Railroads, highways, communications, air traffic and electricity networks provide the capability to move people, goods, information and energy. Networks can make possible transactions that would not otherwise have happened, and high-capacity networks eliminate bottlenecks that stifle business and cause markets to be inefficient. Networks support a growing economy and save us money. Networks benefit us all.

The wide open spaces of the Mid-Atlantic outer continental shelf sit next to the New York-Washington megalopolis. The shallow waters and powerful winds of this region are capable of supporting tens of thousands of megawatts of offshore wind energy. States in this area need large new sources of renewable energy, and offshore wind offers the best, utility-scale renewable energy option. The conditions for the birth of a new sustainable offshore wind industry are ripe, but there is one problem. There is no existing offshore transmission infrastructure and the region's terrestrial grid is congested and generally weak along the coast.

The Atlantic Wind Connection provides an elegant solution. It is an offshore transmission backbone that links multiple wind energy production areas that have been screened to minimize permitting conflicts. The project's high-capacity system, using advanced high-voltage direct-current technology, allows wind farms to be built larger, tapping into economies of scale. And, because high-voltage direct-current transmission allows energy to travel long distances with low losses, the project provides an efficient pathway for wind energy to reach the load centers in northern New Jersey, southern Virginia and the strongest grid nodes far from the coast.

The backbone mixes offshore wind variability over a regional scale, making offshore wind energy delivered by the system less intermittent and more reliable. Controllable HVDC converters at project terminals can react quickly to function as a source or sink to help balance the regional grid. As offshore winds subside at various times, some terminals can accept conventional generation to supplement the fading wind energy, allowing other terminals to continue to deliver firm power.

The project's dual-use nature - delivering offshore wind and conventional power depending on the weather - is what makes it so valuable. Since offshore winds provide about a 40 percent capacity factor, investments in single-purpose transmission ties produce no benefit about 60 percent of the time. Also, building an offshore wind industry without a backbone will be an uphill struggle against a congested grid and weak coastal infrastructure. Without a backbone, each offshore wind farm developer would have to build its own offshore transformer platform, lay a single-purpose subsea transmission tie to a coastal substation, and pay for upgrades to the grid needed to accept the offshore wind energy injections.

The first few offshore wind developers will occupy a handful of points on the coastal grid that have the greatest capacity and require the lowest upgrade expenditures. Developers that come along later will pay much more - possibly hundreds of millions of dollars - to connect at weak coastal nodes. Instead of driving costs down through scale and learning, we will see an upward-sloping cost curve as increasing interconnection costs drive up the cost of each subsequent project. That is not smart planning and it is not the way to build an industry.

The backbone transmission project fixes this problem. It is a modular, integrated system that can be built in phases as offshore wind energy develops. As the phases progress, an offshore backbone takes shape that both connects wind energy and strengthens the existing grid. Adding an offshore transmission corridor running north and south reduces congestion that inflates prices, with the result that energy markets operate more efficiently and with improved reliability. These benefits save money for consumers and help the project to pay for itself. Predictability is another benefit. Offshore transmission capacity for large-scale wind energy development sets the stage for industry to locate in the region and job growth. Instead of exporting dollars and jobs overseas, the region's huge energy demand becomes the source of its economic rebirth.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar called offshore wind America's new energy frontier. America's westward expansion would not have happened without a plan to build a railroad network spanning the continent. Later, power authorities in the western states and the Tennessee valley built hydroelectric dams and transmission systems. These bold initiatives benefitted generations of Americans. They were doubtlessly criticized by some as folly, impractical, unaffordable and unneeded. Fortunately, past leaders saw the wisdom of investing for the long-term good. At this historic moment, we have the choice to build an offshore wind industry that will provide clean energy and jobs now and for generations to come. Let's invest now to earn the prosperity of the future. Let's build a foundation for energy independence and growth in the Mid-Atlantic region.

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