Optimal and Economic Cable Connection for 1 GW Offshore Wind Farm Project Near the Gujarat Coast in India

Wind generation in India is an up-rising power sector in recent times, which is nearly 10% of its total installed generation capacity. India is also exploring the potential of offshore wind energy near the coastal area of Gujarat. This paper presents an optimal and economic methodology to connect wind turbines (WTs) of 1 GW offshore wind farm (OWF) to be constructed near the Gujarat coast. The OWF consists of 500 WTs, with each having capacity of 2 MW. A segment of the proposed layout (about 25% of the total capacity) of the OWF has been identified for this study. Sweep algorithm is used to determine an appropriate number of WT clusters, followed by optimal cabling by minimizing the length of submarine cables of each WT cluster using Clarke and Wright saving algorithm. Each WT cluster is connected to an offshore substation (OS). The optimal placement of OS for the segment of OWF has been determined considering the lowest capital cost for the submarine cable in this study.