Trilateral agreement to develop North Sea Wind Power Hub

TenneT Netherlands, Energinet Denmark and TenneT Germany will sign a trilateral agreement in Brussels on 23 March 2017, to develop a large Offshore Wind Power hub in the North Sea.

The central plan is construction of one or more artificial island so called Power Link Island on the Dogger Bank in the middle of the North Sea with interconnection to the surrounding countries, wind-farms.

Why Power Link Islands in the middle of North sea?

1. Wind farms way out at sea will connect to a Power Link, an island. Far-shore will become near shore and economies of scale will reduce costs.
2. Direct current lines will double as interconnectors. The efficiency of these lines will increase significantly.
3. Staff, components and assembly workshops can be stationed on the island, thus optimising and simplifying complex offshore logistics.
4. The Dogger Bank area has excellent wind consitions which optimizes efficiency and affordability.
5. The area is relatively shallow. The shallower the water, the lower will be the cost of building the wind farms and the island.
6. An island in an area with a lot of space will provide the scale necessary to reduce costs.

By Editors of Power World Analysis

Image Source: TenneT Holding B.V.