Remote Renewable Energy Hubs in the High Seas Using Batteries as Energy Vector

In this paper, we propose a new Remote Renewable Energy Hub (RREH) concept for enabling the harvesting of renewable wind energy in the high seas. This new concept of RREH uses unmoored wind turbines for harvesting energy from the abundant far offshore wind resources and brings this energy back to the coast using Lithium-ion NMC955 batteries. We name this new concept Renewable Renewable Energy Hub in the High Seas, or REHS in short. The presentation of this concept comes with a methodology for assessing both the cost of the energy produced and the load factors of this REHS. The methodology is tested using parameter estimates for CAPEX and technical parameters associated with the different components of the whole supply chain estimated for 2030. Following this methodology, we obtain estimates of the cost of electricity originating from the REHS ranging from 160$/MWh to 204$/MWh depending on the distance from the coast, from 150 km to 400 km.