Presentations

Abstract

This study presents a technical analysis of wind-based offshore hybrid power plants for alternative offtake, focusing on the use case of offshore floating data centers. Using DTU's HyDesign software, we investigate hybrid system architectures combining offshore wind and floating PV arrays with large-scale battery energy storage for supplying data center demand, with and without interconnection to the larger grid and market systems. Floating data centers serve as anchor loads for offshore renewable assets, potentially solving grid constraints and facilitating bankable project financing. Furthermore, data center loads are can be managed (via dynamic load balancing) on a project level with an integrated energy management system along with generation and storage. We evaluate performance metrics including system capacity factor, curtailment, grid utilization factor, levelized cost of energy (LCOE), and economic feasibility under various deployment scenarios (e.g., grid-connected, grid-constrained, and off-grid configurations). By modeling the dynamic EMS-driven load management on the data center side, we quantify reliability improvements and cost reductions compared to static offtake approaches. The results demonstrate that the integration of floating data centers as flexible offtake provides a viable pathway for increasing renewable penetration, improving asset utilization, and accelerating deployment of offshore wind and solar resources while supporting sustainable scale-up of computing needs. These outcomes hold significant implications for developers seeking to unlock stranded offshore renewable projects and data operators aiming for high-reliability, low-carbon operations in constrained coastal and offshore environments.