A critical survey of technologies of large offshore wind farm integration: summary, advances, and perspectives

Offshore wind farms (OWFs) have received widespread attention for their abundant unexploited wind energy potential and convenient locations conditions. They are rapidly developing towards having large capacity and being located further away from shore. It is thus necessary to explore effective power transmission technologies to connect large OWFs to onshore grids. At present, three types of power transmission technologies have been proposed for large OWF integration. They are: high voltage alternating current (HVAC) transmission, high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission, and low-frequency alternating current (LFAC) or fractional frequency alternating current transmission. This work undertakes a comprehensive review of grid connection technologies for large OWF integration. Compared with previous reviews, a more exhaustive summary is provided to elaborate HVAC, LFAC, and five HVDC topologies, consisting of line-commutated converter HVDC, voltage source converter HVDC, hybrid-HVDC, diode rectifier-based HVDC, and all DC transmission systems. The fault ride-through technologies of the grid connection schemes are also presented in detail to provide research references and guidelines for researchers. In addition, a comprehensive evaluation of the seven grid connection technologies for large OWFs is proposed based on eight specific indicators. Finally, eight conclusions and six perspectives are outlined for future research in integrating large OWFs.