DNV and 38 project partners have been working together in a Joint Industry Project (JIP) to identify, understand and tackle the challenges involved in taking the step from bottom-fixed to floating substations. A floating substation will be critical for many projects, to bring clean energy from floating offshore wind farms to the market and consumers. A floating substation is also a meeting point between different disciplines and stakeholders. The JIP involves a broad selection of the value chain representing this meeting point. The group includes both HV component and dynamic cable vendors, engineering companies, designers and yards and not the least companies that will operate and own; Developers and Transmission System Operators.

The objectives of the Floating Substations Joint Industry Project are to: (i) Identify technology gaps and the development and qualification efforts required close these gaps (ii) Identify gaps in standards and (iii) Establish joint understanding and alignment of best industry practice and technical requirements for design, construction, and operation of offshore floating substations. To meet these objectives, the project has defined a design basis, performed gap analyses, technology assessments and failure mode analyses for the key parts of floating substations. Both HVAC and HVDC systems have been addressed. Floater motion analyses and dynamic cable feasibility analyses have been performed and compared for suitability for carrying the HV equipment. Key questions to be answered include (i) what is the right safety level for design of a substation (or: what failure probability per year is acceptable) (ii) what are the motion characteristics of a substation and how does this compare to what the topside HV equipment can tolerate (iii) how can we qualify feasible export system designs. The project has undertaken defined activities to find answers to these questions.

The ultimate goal of the project has been to develop sufficient knowledge and cross-industry understanding to make floating substations a reality with an acceptable level of commercial, technical and HSE risk. The knowledge developed through the JIP will form basis for design standards for floating substations and dynamic cables. In this presentation, DNV will give an overview of the project results, the plans ahead for standard integration and required next steps.

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