A macroscale optimal substructure selection for Europe’s offshore wind farms

Abstract

Considering the political decisions taken in Europe in the last year, there is a renewed interest in the offshore wind sector. A considerable growth of large-scale offshore wind farms (OWF) is noticeable in Europe mainly due to technological advances in wind turbines and foundation structures, which have reduced their costs and improved their performance, and contributed to the implementation of offshore plants. This study uses a Multi-Criterion Decision Making (MCDM) approach in a Geographic Information System (GIS) to analyze which type of foundation is more adequate according to water depth, soil, and wave conditions, as these parameters affect not only the viability of the foundation type but also on the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCoE) of wind energy of the European seas. The results highlight the importance of floating offshore wind, as 61.55% of the total area could be exploited by these means. Moreover, the current exploited power could be increased by a factor of 615. The validation of the obtained results with up-to-date empirical data confirms the accuracy of this study and shed light on the importance of offshore wind, what could encourage policymakers on their decision-making process.