Location suitability analysis for offshore wind farms development within eligible marine areas: the case of Greece

• Locations suitability analysis for OWF development in three Aegean Sea areas, Greece. • TOPSIS and CRITIC combined use considering a set of assessment criteria. • 28-years wind and wave data and metadata utilized to quantify selection criteria. • The proposed approach is characterized by generality, versatility and objectivity. • Suitability maps for OWF sitting in three Aegean Sea areas. The present paper focuses on the determination of suitable locations at eligible Offshore Wind Farm Organized Development Areas (OWFODA) in the Aegean Sea. A comprehensive location suitability analysis is developed and proposed. The Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method is applied for evaluating the suitability of candidate locations separately at each OWFODA, based on nine technical and economic quantitative assessment criteria. The importance of all criteria is assessed using the CRiteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation (CRITIC) method, facilitating objectivity in the corresponding quantification process. Publicly available 28-years data sets are deployed to quantify criteria related to offshore wind and wave conditions. Thematic maps of assessment criteria are produced presenting the specific features of each examined area, while the objective CRITIC method leads to different criteria weights among the three OWFODA. The existence of suitable locations and their tendencies within each area’s boundaries are explicitly shown in the finally produced suitability maps and can be used directly from relevant stakeholders for the location selection and development of OWFs. Management-related assessment criteria additionally to criteria associated with operational and cost aspects are dominating the determination of the suitable locations.