Resources, Economics and Technology Feasibility of Hybrid Offshore Energy Farm
Files
(Thesis)
Date
2023
Authors
Gao, Qiang
Editors
Advisors
Ertugrul, Nesimi
Ding, Boyin
Ding, Boyin
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Journal ISSN
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Thesis
Citation
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Abstract
Offshore wind and wave energy represent vast untapped resources in
the ocean, holding significant potential for making long-term contributions
to future energy supplies and facilitating the ongoing energy transition.
The integration of these ocean renewables has emerged as a compelling concept,
garnering increasing interest from research, industry and government sectors, primarily
due to its potential benefits, such as enhanced energy production, reduced energy
costs and energy variability. However, the successful implementation of offshore wind,
wave and combined energy systems requires addressing various challenges, including
complex system dynamics, optimal justifications (such as technology and location selection),
grid integration and energy reliability and dispatchability.
Although the concept of integrating offshore wind and wave energy systems has been
proposed and studied over the past decade, there have several gaps that have not
been thoroughly investigated. Currently, offshore wind and wave sources are studied
separately, lacking a thorough analysis of combined energy systems, particularly on
Australian coasts. As a result, there is a need for systematic studies on the combined
farms by considering various factors. In addition, traditional economic metrics have
limitations and fail to capture energy benefits and power regulation impacts. Integrating
WECs with WTs requires power smoothing mechanisms, but their impact on the
combined system performance and optimal sizing are lacking in the literature. Moreover,
understanding the power intermittence and energy variability characteristics of
offshore wind and wave is crucial for combined system design in terms of mechanical
stress, control strategies, generator sizing and power regulation. To enhance the
firmness of the ocean energy supply, further research is also needed to investigate the
feasibility, optimal selection and comparison of energy storage systems under different
offshore farm configurations. Therefore, addressing these gaps is vital for informed
decision-making and successful offshore energy development.
Firstly, this research develops a multi-factor method for evaluating and selecting optimal
locations for hybrid development by conducting a comprehensive assessment of offshore wind and wave energy along the Australian coastline. The thesis also investigates
the spatial variation of technical feasibility and economic potential of different
offshore energy farm configurations by utilizing innovative evaluation matrices
developed in this research. Furthermore, this thesis examines the impact of energy
storage systems on WECs performance and addresses gaps in the optimal sizing of
WEC generators. In addition, a new method is developed for capturing the short-term
power intermittence and a novel concept of ”virtual energy storage” is proposed to explore
the long-term energy variability of the combined system, to quantify the energy
smoothing benefits in both technical and economic aspects. Lastly, this thesis proposes
an effective approach to determining the technical parameters of ESS for offshore energy
systems, considering various options and their applicability. Overall, the findings
of this thesis highlight the advantages of combined wind and wave energy farms and
their competitiveness in terms of lifecycle costs and technical feasibility and provide
analytical tools to address the critical challenges of developing combined energy farms
in the future. These contributions advance knowledge and provide valuable insights
and practical recommendations to advance the successful deployment and integration
of offshore wind and wave energy systems.
School/Discipline
School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering
Dissertation Note
Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, 2023
Provenance
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