• Energy Research

Unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) are key technologies to conduct preventive inspection and maintenance tasks in offshore renewable energy plants. Making such vehicles autonomous would lead to benefits such as improved availability, cost reduction and carbon emission minimization. However, some technological aspects, including the powering of these devices, remain with a long way to go. In this context, underwater wireless power transfer (UWPT) solutions have potential to overcome UUV powering drawbacks. Considering the relevance of this topic for offshore renewable plants, this work aims to provide a comprehensive summary of the state of the art regarding UPWT technologies. A technology intelligence study is conducted by means of a bibliographical survey. Regarding underwater wireless power transfer, the main methods are reviewed, and it is concluded that inductive wireless power transfer (IWPT) technologies have the most potential. These inductive systems are described, and their challenges in underwater environments are presented. A review of the underwater IWPT experiments and applications is conducted, and innovative solutions are listed. Achieving efficient and reliable UWPT technologies is not trivial, but significant progress is identified. Generally, the latest solutions exhibit efficiencies between 88% and 93% in laboratory settings, with power ratings reaching up to 1–3 kW. Based on the assessment, a power transfer within the range of 1 kW appears to be feasible and may be sufficient to operate small UUVs. However, work-class UUVs require at least a tenfold power increase. Thus, although UPWT has advanced significantly, further research is required to industrially establish these technologies.

This paper presents a novel technique to evaluate the electric power losses in MVAC and HVAC three-core XLPE cables. The proposed formulation allows to evaluate these losses without power flow simulations by shaping it either in a spreadsheet or in algorithmic form. The formulation can be easily set out within wider methods such as those used to evaluate the energy yield of offshore wind power plants (OWPPs) in cost-benefit analyses, or those used to evaluate techno-economically the alternatives in power system new asset optioneering. The avoidance of power flow simulation requirements contributes to a significant decrease in the time needed to conduct the studies and to an increase in the number of engineers and researchers able to fulfil them. Finally, the proposed formulation has been checked thoroughly and the validation is carefully addressed in the text.

The oceans represent a huge energy reservoir. Although today all of the marine power projects are very near from the shore and they are rated at low power, the huge potential of the seas may in a not very distant future bring marine power further into the sea. Also offshore oil and gas exploration is moving into deeper waters and at longer distances from land. New carbon sequestration projects under the seabed are on the way which require a vast amount of electric power consumption. The substitution of offshore power generators by power provided from the grid may have environmental benefits, but the deployment of offshore transmission of bulk electrical power to or from offshore platforms to the electrical grid onshore is a mayor challenge. The main objective of this paper is to focus on trends that can lead to a feasible transmission system in offshore energy systems far from land, and to introduce the technological alternatives which could help to reach that goal. The paper describes the main alternatives and the technical and economical aspects of the transmission of electrical power offshore.

Abstract This paper reviews offshore wind projects with a wide perspective. The current situation of the offshore wind market is presented, pointing out the countries leading the process in terms of installed capacity and in terms of technological leadership. Feasibility studies of alternative offshore wind farms (OWFs) are interesting not only in relation to the business but in relation to the techno-economical analyses that engineering researchers need to do. Details about the average energy yield assessment, the costs and the price for the purchased energy are commented on, as key elements of those feasibility studies. The higher cost of renewable energy sources of electricity (RESE) when compared with conventional sources, demands appropriate policy support. The European regulatory framework and the support schemes established by European Member States are presented, as well as the role that different transmission system operators (TSOs) are playing at the moment. Finally, most of the OWFs currently operating are presented, analysing the technical characteristics of their electric subsystems: the wind energy conversion systems (WECSs) transforming the kinetic energy of the wind into electricity, the collector system (CS) gathering the power output of all the turbines to a central collection point (CCP) and the transmission system (TS) taking that power to the onshore main grid.

The increase of the wind power penetration in the electrical grids of Denmark, Germany, Spain and other countries and regions is challenging the stability of the system. The subject of this paper is to review the main problems of the connection of wind farms to the grid and how the grid codes must be adapted in order to integrate wind power generation capacity without affecting the quality and stability of the grid. This paper also summarizes the grid codes that have already been modified to incorporate high levels of wind power.

Abstract The current situation of the offshore wind market is characterized, among other things, by two opposing forces. On the one hand, there are a few already tested solutions that can be considered almost industrialized under certain conditions of sea bed depth and distance from shore, and investors interested in the offshore wind business will generally demand to keep risks at a minimum. On the other hand, as in any other emerging industry, optimized solutions are far from being available and OWPPs that will be built during the next decade will probably have to introduce new concepts to cope with the new challenges. Industry and academia are proposing alternative topologies for the electric systems of those future power plants, and different solutions are trying to demonstrate their techno-economical leadership in this budding market. The aim of the paper is to analyse the most promising proposals published by researchers and manufacturers during the last few years.

Micro-hydro power plants (μHPPs) are a major energy source in grid-isolated zones because they do not require reservoirs and dams to be built. μHPPs operate in a standalone mode, but a continuously varying load generates voltage unbalances and frequency fluctuations which can cause long-term damage to plant components. One method of frequency regulation is the use of alternating current-alternating current (AC-AC) converters as an electronic load controller (ELC). The disadvantage of AC-AC converters is reactive power consumption with the associated decrease in both the power factor and the capacity of the alternator to deliver current. To avoid this disadvantage, we proposed two rectifier topologies combined with symmetrical switching. However, the performance of the frequency regulation loop with each topology remains unknown. Therefore, the objective of this work was to evaluate the performance of the frequency regulation loop when each topology, with a symmetrical switching form, was inserted. A MATLAB® model was implemented to simulate the frequency loop. The results from a μHPP case study in a small Cuban rural community called ‘Los Gallegos’ showed that the performance of the frequency regulation loop using the proposed topologies satisfied the standard frequency regulation and increased both the power factor and current delivery capabilities of the alternator.

In this paper, the authors present a real-time adaptive and reusable image enhancement architecture for video signals, based on a statistical processing of the video sequence. The main processing circuit has been implemented in a FPGA. A software test bench designed specifically for image processing applications has been used for simulation purposes. The system can be used to improve the quality of the image in monitoring applications or as a preprocessing system for more complex machine vision systems.