Abstract
In the present article, a new methodological framework for the efficient and sustainable exploitation of offshore wind potential was developed. The proposed integrated strategic plan was implemented for the first time at national spatial planning scale in Greece. The methodological approach is performed through geographical information systems (GIS) and Microsoft Project Server Software and includes five distinct stages: (i) definition of vision/mission, (ii) identification of appropriate areas for offshore wind farms’ (OWFs) siting, (iii) determination of the OWFs’ layout, (iv) calculation of the OWFs’ (projects) total investment cost and, finally, (v) portfolio analysis. The final outcome of the proposed strategic planning is the prioritization of the proposed sixteen offshore wind projects based on their strategic value, as well as the estimation of the overall investment cost of the entire portfolio. High economic, socio-political and environmental benefits could be achieved through the implementation of only 60% of the total investment capital of the proposed strategic plan.
Highlights
In recent years, there has been a growing interest towards the installation of offshore wind farms’ (OWFs), due to the existence of multiple benefits related to the siting and operation of wind turbines offshore, such as existence of stronger winds of longer duration, availability of extensive free space for the construction of large-scale projects, reduction, and/or avoidance of noise and visual disturbances caused to the landscape by these structures, etc
Applying the referred models, all prohibited and unsuitable areas erased of the map, according to the limitations that defined on Stg 2
The implementation of the whole portfolio achieves a strategic value of 100%, since all proposed projects are implemented, and the investment cost of the whole portfolio amounts to 111.214 × 109 €
Summary
There has been a growing interest towards the installation of OWFs, due to the existence of multiple benefits related to the siting and operation of wind turbines offshore, such as existence of stronger winds of longer duration, availability of extensive free space for the construction of large-scale projects, reduction, and/or avoidance of noise and visual disturbances caused to the landscape by these structures, etc. Offshore wind energy in Europe reached the record figure of 3148 megawatt (MW) of total installed capacity in 2017, which corresponds to 560 new offshore wind turbines and 17 OWFs [1,2]. This particular record is two times higher than the figures of 2016 and 4% higher than the previous record of 2015 [2]. Europe’s cumulative offshore wind capacity reached 18,499 MW at the end of 2018, which corresponds to a total of 4543 grid-connected wind turbines across 11 European countries [3]. Useful methodologies have been developed for determining with accuracy all the relevant economic decision variables of floating OWFs [6], for proposing the best technological alternatives [5] and analyzing future wind resources in deeper waters [7]
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