A Study on Deriving the Economic Critical Distance of LFAC Systems for Offshore Wind Power System

This paper explores the distance at which Low Frequency AC (LFAC) becomes more cost-effective than High Voltage AC (HVAC) and High Voltage DC (HVDC) for offshore wind farms. A cost analysis for 100–300 MVA capacities, covering both platform and line costs, shows that HVAC is optimal below 30 km, LFAC outperforms HVDC at intermediate ranges, and HVDC becomes economical at longer distances, particularly for higher capacities. Assuming linear scaling for Variable Frequency Transformer (VFT) costs, the study highlights the need for future research to address potential nonlinear cost factors.