[Submitted on 24 Jul 2026]

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Abstract:The rapid expansion of offshore wind energy is central to the European Union's climate-neutrality targets, with High Voltage Direct Current-connected offshore wind power plants (HVDC-OWPPs) becoming increasingly important for integrating gigawatt-scale renewable generation over long distances. Simultaneously, the phase-out of conventional synchronous generators, together with the gradual withdrawal of renewable-energy subsidies, are creating growing demand for ancillary service provision from HVDC-OWPPs as alternatives. This paper presents a comprehensive review of fast frequency services from HVDC-OWPPs in the European context, focusing on inertia support, fast frequency reserve (FFR), and frequency containment reserve (FCR). The review covers both mandatory grid-code requirements and commercial service products, including the latest developments from ENTSO-E, ACER, NESO, TenneT, and Energinet. Furthermore, the paper discusses the key technical gaps and challenges in the practical implementation of fast frequency services from HVDC-OWPPs, highlighting the limited fast response capacity, complexity of stacking optimization, asymmetric provision of inertia, and overall coordination of an HVDC-OWPP system.

Submission history

From: Zhenghua Xu [view email]
[v1] Fri, 24 Jul 2026 13:11:19 UTC (747 KB)