Offshore Energy Hubs

Objectives

The objective of IEA Wind Task 58 is to support the development and deployment of offshore energy hubs. Offshore energy hubs are geographically located systems with production, conversion, storage and/or consumption of multiple energy-carriers (primarily electrical energy).

The task is seeking answers to the questions:

• How to evolve different technologies for maximizing the synergies and optimizing the design and operation of offshore energy hubs?
• How to integrate offshore energy hubs into the power and energy systems in the best possible way?
• How to build and operate offshore energy hubs in a sustainable and economically efficient way?

Participation

Six countries joined IEA Wind Task 58 with a total of eight institutions as shown in Table 1.

Progress, Results, and Impact in 2025

A hybrid kick-off was held in January 2025 in Trondheim, Norway, as a side event of the EERA DeepWind conference with the possibility of virtual participation. Furthermore, the Task has established a webpage on the IEA Wind portal. The early Task 58 community comprises members from research institutions and academia, with confirmation of industry participation pending.

The technical work in Task 58 started with reviewing existing technology roadmaps and relevant documents. As a starting point, the Task has identified critical research priorities: scalable electrical design concepts for multi-GW systems, functional specifications for multi-vendor interfaces, optimization strategies for wind turbine-HVDC-storage integration, and resilient power system operation approaches for large energy hub deployments.

A collaboration with the Energy Island Forum was established to enhance the impact of IEA Wind Task 58 by connecting researchers and industrial stakeholders. The Energy Island Forum is a partnership for international stakeholders engaged in energy islands, offshore energy hubs and grids.

Next Steps

In 2026, Task 58 will be presented at the EERA DeepWind conference in Trondheim in January and at the WindEurope Annual Event in Madrid in April, enhancing the task's visibility.

Three workshops will be conducted in collaboration with the Energy Island Forum in May and June, connecting researchers and stakeholders. The annual physical task meeting is planned as a side event of the Energy Island Forum. A position paper on the taxonomy of offshore energy hubs is planned in 2026.