North Sea Wind Power Hub

Satellite photo showing the Dogger Bank (red) (NASA)

North Sea Wind Power Hub is a proposed energy island complex to be built in the middle of the North Sea as part of a European system for sustainable electricity. One or more “Power Link” artificial islands will be created at the northeast end of the Dogger Bank, a relatively shallow area in the North Sea, just outside the continental shelf of the United Kingdom and near the point where the borders between the territorial waters of Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark come together. Dutch, German, and Danish electrical grid operators are cooperating in this project to help develop a cluster of offshore wind parks with a capacity of several gigawatts, with interconnections to the North Sea countries. Undersea cables will make international trade in electricity possible.

According to this plan, the first artificial island will have an area of 6 square kilometers. Thousands of wind turbines will be placed around the island, with short alternating-current links to the island. On the island itself, power converters will change the alternating current to direct current that will be carried to the mainland via undersea cables.[1] The Hub – one island at first, and later one or two more – is intended to make a substantial contribution to the energy transition and to achieving the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015. The project is to be completed around 2050.[2]

In June 2016, nine countries – the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Luxemburg, France, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, and Sweden – signed an agreement to cooperate in planning and building offshore wind parks.[3] The goal is to reduce costs as quickly as possible and thus make the wind parks more economically viable.

At the North Seas Energy Forum in Brussels on 23 March 2017, TenneT Netherlands, TenneT Germany, and the Danish Energinet.dk signed a trilateral agreement to cooperate in further development of the project. These network managers hope that Norway, the United Kingdom, and Belgium will also join them.[4][5]

References

  1. ↑ (Dutch) nrc.nl - Stroomfabriek Doggersbank
  2. ↑ (Dutch) nrc.nl - Tennet wil energie-eiland
  3. ↑ (Dutch) nrc.nl - Stroomfabriek Doggersbank
  4. ↑ "First meeting of North Seas Energy Forum". European Commission. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  5. ↑ "UPDATE - Dutch, Danish and German TSOs sign power island deal". Renewables Now. Retrieved 27 March 2017.

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