New approach to prioritize wind farm sites by data envelopment analysis method: A case study

Abstract

The offshore wind potential estimated at 199 GW is analyzed in this study on the Atlantic and Mediterranean coast in Morocco, through a dynamic and static study. The Data Envelopment Analysis method (DEA) is used in this study to list and classify 14 offshore sites according to six criteria in order to prioritize their suitability for a wind farm. The most important criterion is the wind power density calculated by the Weibull distribution function over the period 2016–2020. The study showed that the power density varies considerably between sites, with an annual maximum value of 436.09 W/m2 recorded in Dakhla and another minimum of 15.02 W/m2 recorded in Casablanca. The application of the new approach based on the DEA method revealed favorable sites with high potential for offshore energy production, in particular in Dakhla which occupied the first place with a score of 4.77 followed closely by Laâyoune with 3.9 then Tanger with 3.15, while the sites of Kenitra, Rabat and Casablanca recorded low scores with respectively 0.61, 0.58 and 0.55 each. On the other hand, the study of the continental shelf revealed the presence of a topographic variation of the seabed, which favored the establishment of this technology.