Objectives

The wind farm siting Challenge aims to:

• characterize the suitability of marine sites for wind farm development in particular:

– on the border between Spain and France
– on the border between France and Italy
– on a French offshore wind turbine test site near Marseille

• evaluate the accuracy and the suitability of the available data and quantify the associated uncertainties via statistical analysis

This Challenge contributes in parallel to the data collection framework for checkpoint information and report assessment results in the literature survey and data adequacy reports.

Methodology

Database building

Use of the 10-year database made by the Atmospheric Modeling and Weather Forecasting Group of the University of Athens (under the framework of the FP-7 European project MARINA PLATFORM).

Database analysis

The analysis of the database includes spatial and in situ statistical analysis. More precisely, the suitability of areas for wind park installation has been quantified by taking into consideration multiple criteria (natural resources and constraints) and utilizing a five scale grading.

Natural resources

The site availability is performed by using the mean wind speed and the wind speed index of variation (10 m), which are the most critical parameters for the estimation of wind power potential. These produce the five scale suitability index expressed in the next Table.

Constrains

In addition potential constraints set by anthropogenic or other activities are included in a second phase.

Data Sources

• High resolution meteorological analyses for various characteristics (winds, air temperature, etc.) from past EU FP7 projects (MARINA, etc.);
• High resolution model and satellite altimetry wave characteristics from past EU FP7 projects;
• Shipping lines from AIS data made available by EMSA;
• Bathymetry (numerical values and maps) from the EMODnet thematic portal;
• Seafloor geology from the EMODnet thematic portal;
• Benthic ecosystem structure from the EMODnet thematic portal;
• Electric grid position from network operators and public bodies and from the EMODNET Human Activities thematic portal;
• Bird migratory patterns (from the literature).

Browse Data Source

Targeted Products

Please contact back-end-medsea-ckpt@cls.fr for further information on products.

Team Involved

Atmospheric Modeling and Weather Forecasting Group, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), Greece

Institut Français de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER), France

France Energies Matines (FEM), France