A comparative analysis of decision-making methods on site suitability for on- and offshore wind farms: the case of regional unit of Euboea, Greece

Wind energy has a key role to the fulfillment of the energy and Greece’s low-carbon policy targets due to multiple benefits that it provides in terms of cost-effectiveness. However, inappropriate siting may lead to uneconomic viable projects. In this work, a site selection methodological framework is developed to determine the wind farm (WF) siting potential (onshore and offshore) of a study area, as well as the most suitable siting solutions. It consists of two successive phases: (1) the identification of suitable areas for onshore and offshore WF siting using geographic information systems by producing linear geoprocessing models of numerous exclusion criteria (e.g., wind power density) and (2) the prioritization of the suitable land and marine areas on the basis of specific assessment criteria (e.g., distance from protected areas) by deploying three different multi-criteria methodological schemes (analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and VIekriterijumsko KOmpromisno Rangiranje (VIKOR); entropy and VIKOR; direct weights and VIKOR). The suggested framework is applied at the regional unit of Euboea, Greece, and its final outcome is the formation of six different (land and marine) site suitability indexes. The WF siting solutions could efficiently support the local policy makers and contribute to the energy interdependency of the region.