Energy Delivery
Introduction
The Energy Delivery tool is used to design the electrical infrastructure to transmit power from one or more ocean energy converters back to shore. It is one of the Deployment Design Tools, run after Energy Capture and Energy Transformation, but before Station Keeping.
Structure
This module’s documentation is divided into four main sections:
Tutorials that give step-by-step instructions on using Energy Delivery for new users.
How-to Guides that show how to achieve specific outcomes using Energy Delivery.
A section on background, theory and calculation methods that describes how Energy Delivery works and aims to give confidence in the tools.
The API reference section documents the code of modules, classes, API, and GUI.
Functionalities
The main purpose of the Energy Delivery tool is to design the electrical network to transmit power from devices to shore, including the:
Array network – cables between Ocean Energy Convertors (OEC). These are also referred to as intra-array cables, or inter-array cables.
Collection point (CP), which can be a substation with voltage transformation or a passive hub or a device.
Transmission (or export) cable to the Onshore Landing Point (OLP).
The design is based on user choices, design parameters from other tools, and a catalogue of typical electrical components. A simplified generic offshore electrical network for ocean energy arrays is shown in the figure below.
Fig. 74 Diagram showing scope of ED design, covering array network, collection point, and transmission system.
The main outputs are a network design, the energy and power delivered to shore and network losses, a total cost and bill of materials for the electrical components used, plus a hierarchy of how they are connected.
The Energy Delivery tool can either be run in simplified mode (complexity 1) or full detail mode (complexity 2/3). Note there is no difference in the design process between complexity 2 and 3, but these have been retained for consistency with other tools. This also allows the user to select a medium complexity level (2) if they are using surrogate data, for example flat bathymetry. For more information on levels of complexity within DTOceanPlus, please see Understand levels of complexity in DTOceanPlus.
The Energy Delivery tool is based on the Electrical Sub-Systems module in DTOcean v2.0.0 [DTO2], which has been ported from Python 2.7 to Python 3.6 and additional functionalities added.
Workflow for using the Energy Delivery module
The workflow for using the Energy Delivery module can be summarised as 1) provide inputs, 2) perform a design, and 3) view the results, as shown below.
Overview of Energy Delivery data requirements
This section summarises the types of input data required to run the Energy Delivery module. Full details and data specifications are given in the how to guide on preparing data. The required and optional inputs to run the module are summarised in the tables below. Note that in integrated mode, the required inputs will all come from other modules except for the onshore landing point coordinates and network topology to be assessed.
Required inputs for the Energy Delivery module
Section |
Low complexity (1) |
Full complexity (2/3) |
---|---|---|
Site characteristics |
– |
Bathymetry data and seabed material for both lease area and export cable corridor |
Device characteristics |
Device rated power (kW) Device rated voltage (V) |
Device technology: fixed/floating Device rated power (kW) Device rated voltage (V) |
Array characteristics |
Number of devices Array spacing (m) Distance to shore (m) Onshore distance (m) |
Coordinates of onshore landing point Layout of devices in array as a json string of device coordinates (m, m) Frequency of occurrence of array power output |
Configuration parameters |
– |
Network configuration to be assessed |
Summary of optional inputs for Energy Delivery
Section |
Low complexity (1) |
Full complexity (2/3) |
---|---|---|
Device characteristics |
– |
Device connector type: wet-mate/dry-mate Footprint radius Device power factor Location of device electrical connection, as (x, y, z) relative to device (m, m, m) Device equilibrium draft without mooring system (m) |
Array characteristics |
Onshore infrastructure cost (€) Array AEP or Capacity factor |
Onshore infrastructure cost (€) Electrical losses of onshore infrastructure, as percentage of annual energy yield Max/min voltage limits (pu) |
Configuration parameters |
– |
Predefined export system voltage Maximum number of devices per string in radial configuration Predefined burial depth of the array cable(s) and export cable Maximum seabed gradient considered by the cable routing analysis Cable installation method Cable protection option Maximum horizontal offset of device for umbilical design |
Types of electrical components in catalogue
Category |
Subcategory |
---|---|
Cables |
Static cables Dynamic (umbilical) cables |
Connectors |
Wet-mate Dry-mate |
Collection Points |
Substation Passive hub |