Europe’s offshore wind has reached a bottleneck as the high voltage direct current (HVDC) is experiencing huge demand.
HVDC is a power transmission technology that uses direct current at high voltages to efficiently transmit electricity and has become the preferred solution for long-distance wind farms.
However cost inflation, supply chain constraints and scarcity of specialised equipment has impacted the timing of HVDC delivery.
Connection timing has now become an important variable for offshore wind projects. But a wind farm can be installed and still face delayed revenue if the required offshore grid connection is not available on schedule.
European Transmission system operators (TSOs), who operate and transport electricity on the grid, may suffer from the connection schedules which will restrict wind farm deployment. Developers could also see a delay on operation dates.
The issues arise just one year after the Government awarded £12 billion worth of contracts to the supply chain.
The severity of the bottleneck could affect the UK’s net-zero plans as HVDCs play a huge part in moving surplus renewable energy to where it’s needed, making the energy network more sustainable.
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