A Comparative Analysis of Economics of PMSG and SCSG Floating Offshore Wind Farms

Ga-Eun Jung, Hae-Jin Sung, Minh-Chau Dinh, Minwon Park and Hyunkyoung Shin
Additional contact information
Ga-Eun Jung: Department of Electrical Engineering, Changwon National University, Changwon 51140, Korea
Hae-Jin Sung: Department of Electrical Engineering, Changwon National University, Changwon 51140, Korea
Minh-Chau Dinh: Department of Electrical Engineering, Changwon National University, Changwon 51140, Korea
Minwon Park: Department of Electrical Engineering, Changwon National University, Changwon 51140, Korea
Hyunkyoung Shin: Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, University of Ulsan, Ulsan 44610, Korea

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 5, 1-18

Abstract: The biggest obstacle to using a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) for a floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) is the weight. A superconducting synchronous generator (SCSG) can be an alternative to this problem. In this paper, first, the weight and volume of a 10 MW class PMSG and SCSG for a large floating offshore wind farm (FOWF) were compared. Reflecting this, the economic feasibility of a 200 MW class FOWF based on a semi-submersible platform was compared and analyzed. The levelized cost of energy (LCOE) was used to compare the economics of the two types of FOWF, and the LCOE of the SCSG type FOWF was 6 (USD/MWh) more expensive than that of the PMSG type FOWF. However, if the superconducting wire price is reduced by 40% compared to the current price, the economic feasibility of the SCSG type FOWF can be secured. Considering only the weight, the SCSG type FOWF is far superior to the PMSG type FOWF. With the trend of falling superconducting wire prices and improving critical current, the SCSG type FOWF is expected to become a definite alternative to large-capacity wind farms, and the economic feasibility is expected within the next five years.

Keywords: economic feasibility; floating offshore wind farm; levelized cost of energy; permanent magnet synchronous generator; superconducting synchronous generator (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/5/1386/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/5/1386/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:5:p:1386-:d:509693

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().