The Pathway Study was conducted by Energynautics and Ea Energy Analyses on behalf of the North Sea Wind Power Hub (NSWPH) Programme. The goal was to determine how to effectively integrate large-scale offshore wind in a way that maximizes long-term socioeconomic benefits while ensuring security of supply.

The objectives of the study were to:

• Deepen the understanding of the offshore wind integration challenges on both a national and transnational level,
• Understand the drivers of effectively integrating large scale offshore wind into the energy system, considering the country or regional specific energy system context, and
• Determine the design principles for possible integration routes, in the context of the roll-out pathway of the first and following hub-and-spoke projects, thereby supporting decision making for the first hub and spoke project to be realised in the early 2030s.

The analysis was finalized in November 2021 and the study is now available. It presents potential end-pictures and pathways through energy infrastructure optimization modelling, with the focus on minimizing cost of energy-infrastructure on the long term (2050).

Background

The North Sea Wind Power Hub consortium is working on new approaches to offshore wind connection and integration, which can support an efficient deployment of wind power. The main component in NSPWHs work is the Hub-and-spoke configuration, which combines grid connection of offshore wind power and market integration, thereby enabling increased socio-economic welfare, compared to a traditional radial approach to connection offshore wind power.

Energynautics and the Danish company Ea Energy Analyses were commissioned by the NSWPH consortium to provide a firm analysis of efficient integration of offshore wind (including a possible hydrogen infrastructure) which provides input to specific design considerations for the first offshore wind power hub and the market regulation needed to enable its potential.