It’s estimated the U.S. has over 4,000 GW of offshore wind potential — four times the amount of electricity needed to power the country. Given Europe’s 15-year head start in this sector, U.S. developers might be tempted to take an identical approach. But it’s not that simple.

Managing the inflow of renewable generation interconnection applications was challenging a major utility. Proper planning, research, management of the engineering and construction of required interconnection facilities and associated network upgrades streamlined the process.

As the number of offshore wind projects continues to grow, addressing grid interconnection challenges is critical for these systems to successfully fit in the evolving power grid. Maintaining system frequency and voltage stability while supplying sufficient short circuit current is key for offshore wind projects to achieve grid stability.

Lithium-ion technology dominates the market for battery energy storage systems, but redox flow battery technology is gaining traction as an energy storage alternative that can make economic sense under several scenarios for utility-scale applications.

Most offshore wind power generation projects to date have been developed in shallow ocean waters where foundation structures could be affixed to the ocean floor. However, the more powerful wind resources found above deeper coastal waters and farther out at sea have largely gone untapped. The development of new floating foundations may soon change that.