Redundancy systems for offshore wind energy would be a game changer for the global electricity market, a panel of industry specialists concluded at the Offshore Wind 2014 conference.
The concept of a storage system that would allow to accumulate excess energy from areas of high winds, notably offshore north of Scotland, and use it in areas of lesser wind flows is a “holy grail” for the electricity network system, as the technology required is simply lacking, claimed Ross McGhil, National Grid electricity portfolio manager.
The costly solution has to fall behind the redevelopment of the onshore network to enable it to cope with the vast volumes of energy produced by Scottish offshore and onshore windfarms, which are too great for the current transmission capacity, argued Stephanie McGregor, director of grid systems at ABB.
She added that the different regulatory systems for onshore and offshore assets meant it would be difficult to reach a consensus on how such redundancy systems would operate.
The plenary panel also agreed that the pressing need for cost reduction for the renewables industry would delay any major technological developments in the sector.
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