North Sea offshore grid development: combined optimisation of grid and generation investments towards 2050

The North Sea region offers large amounts of investable offshore wind generation and several interconnection lines are located in the area, with more planned. Optimal transmission and generation investments are modelled in the region towards 2050. A project‐based scenario, where each offshore wind power plant is connected individually, is first analysed. Then, an integrated offshore grid is modelled to investigate the viability of connecting future transmission and offshore wind generation investments. These two scenarios are then compared. It is shown that going towards an integrated solution can increase offshore wind investments by several GWs, with Germany seeing the biggest difference between the two scenarios. It is shown that the integrated solution leads to overall cost minimisation and shows somewhat higher variable renewable energy generation by 2050 compared to the project‐based scenario.