Offshore Wind Power Plant Technology Catalogue - Components of wind power plants, AC collection systems and HVDC systems

Traditionally, Offshore Wind Power Plants (OWPPs) are connected through many com-ponents as shown in the figure 1. An OWPP consists of controllable, variable speed Wind Turbines (WTs). These WTs are connected through Medium Voltage (MV) sub-marine cables typically at voltage level of upto 33-66 kV to the Offshore Alterna-ting Current (AC) substation. The transformer in offshore AC substation steps up the voltage to 132-200 kV for further transmission. The stepping up of voltage is impor-tant to reduce the current flow through the cables. Reduced current flow decreases the copper/aluminium requirement for the cables as well reduce the power losses through them.