Unified System Analysis for Time-Variant Reliability of a Floating Offshore Substation

Abstract

Offshore wind is planned to become the first source of energy by 2050. That requires installing turbines in deeper seas. It is shown that only floating wind turbines will allow dealing with this challenge while keeping a reasonable cost of energy production and transport according to the levelized cost of electricity. A Floating Offshore Substation will be needed in many sites. This technology is still at a low technology readiness level. This paper aims to analyze the system reliability of such a structure for which the failure rates of structural components such as mooring lines and dynamic power cables are close to the ones of electro-technical systems. Consequently, only a system reliability assessment of the floating offshore substation will allow accurately quantifying its availability and the most sensitive components. Usually, structural reliability aims at quantifying the probability of failures, while electro-technical reliability relies on feedback and observed failure rates. The paper first unifies these two concepts in a single formulation and then evaluates the system’s reliability and availability. This methodology is illustrated in a study case localized in the French coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, where the effect of several mooring and substation designs on the system reliability is compared.