Wind Farm Deployment in Uninhabited Islets: A Case Study the Region of the South Aegean (Greece)

Abstract

The transition of nations to renewable energy sources is a fact, and the deployment of renewable energy (RE) projects has increased in the last decades. The deployment of energy projects in uninhabited islets (islands) provides a promising opportunity for low-carbon energy transition. Considering the importance of the spatial dimension of RE projects, in this research, we identified and ranked uninhabited islets (UIs) for wind farm deployment in the South Aegean Sea, Greece. The proposed methodology combines geographic information systems (GIS) and two multicriteria analysis methods (AHP and TOPSIS) using some restrictions found in Greek law as well as assessment criteria considering environmental, economic, and technical aspects. The appropriate UIs were then ranked under four different policy scenarios (baseline, equal criteria weights, a policy scenario oriented to technical/economic criteria, and a policy scenario focusing on environmental criteria). The results indicated the existence of three UIs for siting wind farms in the region of the South Aegean, with the same ranking of these UIs under different scenarios. The proposed methodology provides useful guidelines for selecting UIs as wind farm sites in Greece and could be applied in other countries worldwide.