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s policy makers and energy developers look to de- power, 10 more HVDC cables and associated converters at velop and interconnect large offshore wind proj- several hundreds of millions of US dollars each would be re- ects in the most economically ef? cient and least quired if the 1,200 MW single source limit continues to apply.

Aenvironmentally impactful way, an issue has de- At the same time, the complex and opaque history of the veloped. A relatively recent limit, set in place by the grid op- 1,200 MW limit has led to the impression that this has been a erator in New England in a planning process document, states long-standing ceiling in the region and a sense that it would be that no single system loss of energy, or “contingency”, can a signi? cant effort to lift the limit. If the 1,200 MW ceiling is be larger than 1,200 megawatts (MW). This 2016 addition to relatively recent, what is the long-standing single source New

ISO New England’s (ISO-NE) Planning Procedure No. 5-6 is England loss limit agreed to by the predecessors of the New increasingly creating consternation among both policy makers York Independent System Operator (NYISO), ISO-NE, and and developers and threatening to raise the cost and impacts of PJM Interconnection (PJM) in 1991? 2,200 MW. Instead of offshore wind. Part of the reason is that a de facto standard has a ceiling, the 1,200 MW is a ? oor that the three systems will developed in Europe that utilizes 2,000 MW 525 kilovolt (kV) redispatch power ? ows on their system to maintain. high voltage direct current (HVDC) cable systems to intercon- The 1991 agreement, the “Procedure to Protect for the Loss nect offshore wind, with tens of billions of dollars of these of Phase II Imports,” set 2,200 MW as the single source loss systems already ordered and scheduled to be in service by ceiling and established a process for assessing conditions in the end of this decade. The 2,000 MW size allows for single the NYISO and PJM systems through an examination of sev- wind projects to be larger and bene? t from economies of scale en reactive conditions. In PJM, this consists of power ? ows spread over more power production per project and signi? - across three speci? ed lines, and in NYISO, there are four cant reductions in the number of HVDC transmission systems monitoring points consisting of voltages at three substations needed to connect these projects to the grid. To meet New and power ? ows on the Central East Interface. Any restric-

England’s projected need of 30,000 MW of offshore wind tion below the 2,200 MW level down to 1,200 MW, and any www.marinetechnologynews.com 17

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