Reliability of Communication Systems Used in Offshore Wind Farms

In the era of renewable energy, offshore wind farms play a very important role. The number of such installations in Europe is increasing rapidly. With the growing capacity of wind turbines installed in these farms (3, 5, 10 MW), the profitability of this type of energy systems plays an increasing role. The number of wind energy turbines installed at offshore wind farms is growing constantly as well. Once installed, the power plants must be under constant technical supervision, with reliability of electronic communication systems being a particularly important aspect in the operation of offshore wind farms. Considerations focusing on this subject form the very core of this paper. After an introduction to offshore wind farms, the following aspects will be discussed: redundant topologies, e.g. multiple HiPERRings, redundant switches and routers within the backbone networks, redundancy of the transmission media used, alternative transmission technologies, e.g. WLANs (IEEE 802.11h, IEEE 802.11g). Finally, requirements applicable to reliable electronic communication systems used in offshore wind farms will be formulated.