Atlantic Offshore Wind Transmission Study: Executive Summary

Technical Report · Thu Feb 29 23:00:00 EST 2024

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/2328110· OSTI ID:2328110

Brinkman, Gregory ^[1]; Bannister, Mike ^[1]; Bredenkamp, Sophie ^[1]; Carveth, Lanaia ^[1]; Corbus, Dave ^[1]; Green, Rebecca ^[1]; Lavin, Luke ^[1]; Lopez, Anthony ^[1]; Marquis, Melinda ^[1]; Mowers, Joseph ^[1]; Mowers, Matthew ^[1]; Rese, Leonardo ^[1]; Roberts, Billy ^[1]; Rose, Amy ^[1]; Shah, Shahil ^[1]; Sharma, Pranav ^[1]; Sun, Hongfei ^[1]; Wang, Bin ^[1]; Vyakaranam, Bharat ^[2]; Huang, Zhenyu (Henry) ^[2] ; Harris, Kevin ^[2]; Qin, Chuan ^[2]; Samaan, Nader ^[2]; Elizondo, Marcelo ^[2]; Nguyen, Tony ^[2]; Nguyen, Quan ^[2]; Guddanti, Kishan P. ^[2]; Royer, Patrick ^[2]; Bereta dos Reis, Fernando ^[2]; Siddiqui, Shahnawaz ^[2]; Nekkalapu, Sameer ^[2]; Abdelmalak, Michael ^[2]

---

1. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
2. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

The Atlantic Offshore Wind Transmission Study (AOSWTS) is part of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) efforts to understand and facilitate the transmission of electricity from wind in the Atlantic Ocean. It was informed by the Atlantic Offshore Wind Transmission Literature Review and Gaps Analysis (Bothwell et al. 2021) and the convening workshops hosted in 2022-2023 by DOE and the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The study results help to inform An Action Plan for Offshore Wind Transmission Development in the U.S. Atlantic Region (Baker et al. 2023). DOE's Wind Energy Technologies Office funded AOSWTS. The AOSWTS identifies and evaluates pathways to enable offshore wind energy deployment in the Atlantic Ocean through coordinated offshore transmission solutions in the near term (by 2030) and long term (by 2050). The study fills gaps in prior analyses by providing a multiregional planning perspective that evaluates offshore wind generation development with transmission planning. It incorporates environmental, ocean co-use, and other siting considerations into defining potential offshore transmission routes. The study also compares different multiregional offshore transmission topologies and their associated costs (using potential cable routes) and benefits (in terms of production cost savings and enhanced resource adequacy). In addition, the AOSWTS analyzes reliability impacts from a multiregional perspective. The study provides guidance for policymakers and transmission stakeholders on possible outcomes resulting from a proactive, coordinated, and interregional approach to transmission planning for offshore wind energy development in the Atlantic. While this study presents possibilities, additional work following system operator methods and procedures can help build on this analysis.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Wind Energy Technologies Office
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 2328110
• Report Number(s): NREL/TP--5000-89304; MainId:90083; UUID:e2cc3489-6048-4e53-91a5-ef3b4acc219e; MainAdminId:72162
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

17 WIND ENERGY
Atlantic
Offshore
Offshore Wind
Transmission
Wind Energy