The UK Government has announced plans to integrate 50 GW of renewable energy into the GB transmission system by 2030. Over the same period there is expected to be a growth of interconnection towards at least 18GW capacity and co-ordinated solutions which integrate interconnection with offshore wind farm connection are contemplated.
In this project, the Centre has been commissioned by National Grid Ventures to explore a range of operational and commissioning scenarios relating to such multi-purpose interconnectors to identify key considerations and areas of relevant specification. The work has included detailed real-time modelling of these arrangements and associated control and protection using functional design models that are also used to support Project Aquila and other HND arrangements, together with our experience in de-risking existing multi-terminal projects including some in operation. These studies have been conducted for a range of different short circuit levels and considered a range of operational switching and event scenarios.
The work is expected to complete later this year, and an abstract relating to a paper outlining general findings related to this work has been accepted for submission at CIGRE 2024.
Interactive Infographic Source: National Grid Ventures (https://www.nationalgrid.com/national-grid-ventures/interconnectors-connecting-cleaner-future/multi-purpose-interconnectors)