4C Offshore Empowering Intelligence

DNV to assist KEPCO to develop offshore power grid plan

4C Offshore | Kaitlin Walsh
By: Kaitlin Walsh 16/03/2023 DNV


Technical advisor DNV is embarking on a multi-year project with KEPCO (Korea Electric Power Corporation) Research Institute to support the development of an optimal design and network routing plan for integrating large-scale offshore wind into the power grid. The project is scheduled for completion by mid-2025 and will pave the way for more wind power in the greater Seoul area.


DNV will work as technical advisor for the project and will develop a conceptual design and routing plan to enable the economically and technically optimal integration of large-scale offshore wind to the grid. Suitable analysis models of offshore network systems will be proposed in order to investigate the optimal topology and design standards for the offshore system.


South Korea has set a goal of obtaining 20 percent of its power from renewable energy sources by 2030. Wind energy is a rapidly growing industry supported by the policy ambition to grow the wind share of the country's energy mix from 1% in 2015 to 6% by 2030 and various measures, including tax incentives.


In February 2021, the government presented an 8.2 GW and KRW 48.5 trillion mega-project that should become the world's largest single offshore development when completed in 2030. However, grid integration for this needs to be worked on in parallel.


KEPCO is aiming to expand its network along the western coast of South Korea and deliver power from high capacity offshore wind projects to crucial demand centres in the country's capital, Seoul. The city of Seoul houses roughly 10 million people, with an additional nearly 26 million living in the greater Seoul area, which is half the country's population and also the country's main industrial location.


DNV are to develop system analysis models to study the design specification and optimal topology for gigawatt-scale HVDC linkage technology to improve system acceptability and transferring capacity from offshore wind projects in the southwestern coast of the country. DNV will also estimate the costs of the proposed optimal integration plan to minimise the total investment needed for integration offshore wind projects into the onshore power grid.


The detailed work scope for DNV includes collecting and analysing offshore wind farm data; preparing a conceptual design of the power collecting element for the offshore wind projects; drafting functional specifications for AC/DC converter stations; analysing the impact of the offshore DC system to the onshore AC system; reviewing the relevant environmental and code limitations for the network routing and delivering a detailed design of the multi-terminal DC system, including the converter topology, location and control/operational strategy.


DNV's Project Manager, Dr. Yang Byeong Mo, said: “The KEPCO HVDC Research project is increasing our expertise and experience in this growing market segment in South Korea. It has taken a year of detailed discussion with KEPCO to define and secure the work. The project scope requires close cooperation with our European power grids team, which will lead to technology improvements and boost local knowledge on renewables-grid integration in South Korea.”


DNV's Vice President and Regional Director, Energy Systems for Asia Pacific, Brice le Gallo, said: “We are delighted to be supporting KEPCO with such a major technical challenge. The Asia Pacific market is showing increasing interest in HVDC technology with the wave of renewable energy generation including offshore wind set to drive the region’s energy transition. This project will add to our considerable and growing experience in the region’s energy transformation, and we hope it will lead to more collaboration in the future.”


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