Posters

Abstract

Offshore wind energy has expanded rapidly across Europe, but its growth is now exposing commercial and technical challenges. The mismatch between where and when renewable power is generated versus where and when it is needed, both spatially and temporally, creates grid integration issues and complicates monetisation for producers.  This paper explores one such challenge through a study assessing the commercial value of co-located energy storage at the Dutch IJmuiden Ver Gamma A/B (IMVG) wind farm. The tender for this site was postponed due to concerns over its standalone commercial viability. Notably, the IMVG tender included stringent system integration requirements, highlighting a shift toward exposing developers to greater merchant risk. Combined with supply chain constraints, this  placed significant pressure on the business case, ultimately leading to the tender’s delay to avoid a poor or no-bid outcome. Co-located offshore energy storage emerges as a key enabler for both commercial and regulatory success. This presentation considers a “what if?” scenario in which co-located storage is applied at IMVG, assessing the impact on the wind farm’s overall business case.  Hydro-Pneumatic Energy Storage (HPES) is being developed as a novel approach for physically co-locating utility-scale energy storage within offshore wind farms. This solution is suitable for long-duration energy storage (4-24 hrs) and leverages existing offshore technologies and supply chains. Marine Li-ion batteries can be also applied for offshore behind-the-meter applications but come at a significant premium due to shorter lifetime, harsher application conditions, installation complexity, and additional safety requirements.  This study demonstrates how the right co-located storage solution unlocks value in IMVG by transforming the wind farm into a virtual power plant. The result is 21.5% increase in revenue and 12.9% increase in overall IRR, potentially making the IMVG project profitable and executable.