Optimal Siting of Offshore Wind Farms

The goal of this study is finding the best location for constructing an offshore wind farm with respect to investment and operation costs and technical limitations. Wind speed, sea depth and distance between shore and wind farm are three major factors that affect the optimal solution. In other researches in this field, turbine installation technology is considered a fixed parameter. But it shaped 24 percent of overnight costs and can bias the project against impossibility. In this study, installation technology is reckoned in three different types related to water depth. At first, was assumed a linear relation between transmission costs, average wind speed and distance from shore is established. By use of linear regression and value of R-Square, two relations fitness was shown. Then, by considering the sea depth in wind turbine installation technology, investment cost and environmental aspects of wind farm distance from the shore, we designed the basic structure of the model. Finally we executed the model in Kish island offshore parts and found the right place for constructing a wind farm in order to meet the island electricity demand. Also was found that the most important factor in determining the average cost of production is the wind speed and can largely compensate for the additional costs imposed by the selecting an appropriate location.