Offshore wind energy is expected to have a steep grow in Europe due to increase demand for electricity originated from renewable sources. If the sector is to fulfil the expectations, Europe will have to install yearly circa 4.1 GW of offshore wind for the next ten years. As a consequence, future offshore wind farms will need to be larger in size and installed increasingly away from shore. In this scenario, an European offshore grid network will be needed in order to efficiently integrate large amounts of offshore wind into the different European countries’ transmission networks. This work discusses the role of modularity and standardization for the construction and development of large offshore grids. Lastly, a load-flow case study is carried out in order to study the operation aspects of offshore networks, with special attention given to the North Sea.

This work was supported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation of the Netherlands within the EOS-LT program of Agentschap-NL under the "North Sea Transnational Grid" (EOS LT 08019) project.