Assessment of the Offshore Wind Energy Potential in the Romanian Exclusive Economic Zone

Abstract

The European offshore wind market is continuously expanding. This means that, together with significant technological developments, new coastal environments should be considered for the implementation of the wind farms, as is the case of the Black Sea, which is targeted in the present work. From this perspective, an overview of the wind energy potential in the Romanian exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Black Sea is presented in this work. This is made by analyzing a total of 20 years of wind data (corresponding to the time interval 2000–2019) coming from different sources, which include ERA5 reanalysis data and satellite measurements. Furthermore, a direct comparison between these datasets was also carried out. Finally, the results of the present work indicate that the Romanian offshore areas can replicate the success reported by the onshore wind projects, of which we can mention the Fantanele-Cogealac wind farm with an operating capacity of 600 MW.

Wind Variation near the Black Sea Coastal Areas Reflected by the ERA5 Dataset

“…A total of 20 years of data covering the interval from January 2002 to December 2021 are processed, the initial dataset being defined by a spatial resolution of 0.25 • and by four values per day (00-06-12-18 UTC). This dataset is frequently used for the evaluation of the wind energy all over the world, being also considered for some coastal sectors from the Black Sea [12]. Various analyses are performed, including the seasonal distribution, that are sorted according to: Spring-March, April, May; Summer-June, July, August; Autumn-September, October, November; Winter-December, January, February.…”

“…Although the wind conditions significantly increase from the shoreline to the offshore region, at some point it a stabilization of the conditions is expected. This seems to be the case of the Romanian coastal sector [12], where the average wind conditions (U10) may start from 4.37 m/s (shoreline), reach a maximum of 5.89 m/s (at 100 km from the shore), and reduce to 5.75 m/s at a distance of 220 km from the shore. These values are specific to the southern part of this region being based on the ERA5 reanalysis data.…”

A Review of Perspectives on Developing Floating Wind Farms

“…Romania has a current installed onshore wind capacity of 3 GW, but it lacks a corresponding electrical infrastructure in sea areas, which is currently the main obstacle to implementing floating wind projects in the country [3], although ongoing efforts are being made in this regard [8]. The solution to the lack of a corresponding offshore electrical infrastructure in Romania is possibly the implementation of Power-to-X technology, which will be used to convert the produced floating wind electrical power (mainly into hydrogen and compressed air) and eliminate the need for a tremendous electrical infrastructure in the sea region.…”

Offshore Renewables for a Transition to a Low Carbon Society

“…The assessment of wind energy potential in the Romanian coastal area shows that this area can be a viable candidate for the development of offshore wind projects that have good wind energy potential and a large continental shelf. Furthermore, Romania is a part of the European Union, which aims to signicantly expand the offshore wind sector [3]. Using the data provided by one of the most credible databases regarding wind speed at 10 m (U 10 ) above sea level, namely ERA5 [4], a long-term analysis of the average and extreme wind speed values was carried out for the Romanian exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Black Sea.…”