Unveiling Future Offshore Wind Potential: A Multi Criteria Framework for Sustainable Development

Publications

Unveiling Future Offshore Wind Potential: A Multi Criteria Framework for Sustainable Development

Year : 2025

Publisher : Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH

Source Title : Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering

Document Type :

Abstract

Climate change poses a risk to the human societies and environment, encouraging a shift towards clean energy sources. Among these sources, offshore wind energy emerges as a favorable solution, due to its steady and strong wind resources, coupled with mature technology. Establishing offshore wind farms requires substantial financial investment. However, uncertainties induced by climate change may not only impact the cost-effectiveness of offshore wind farms but also influence the suitability of regions for their development. Therefore, the present study presents a novel framework for identifying optimal regions for off-shore wind farms by considering future projections under the various Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) scenarios. A weighted multi-model ensemble (MME) of ten CMIP6 climate models was considered. Offshore wind energy resource are classified based on resource richness, stability, risk, and economic viability. Criteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation (CRITIC) method is used to assign weights to each factor, offering insights into their influence on wind resources. The findings reveal that projections for the SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5 scenarios show that the western and northeastern offshore regions within the study areas have emerged as the top-ranking regions due to their abundant wind energy resources and favorable stability, risk and economic factors. By employing a novel methodology, this study produces suitability maps that identify promising wind regions for future development, providing important information for long-term planning in India’s offshore wind sector.