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Abstract The present paper presents the methodology and development of a planning tool for the installation of marine renewable energy systems, which enables the identification of suitable areas for this purpose. The marine spatial planning is one of the challenges of the offshore renewable energies. This is one of the reasons to write this paper, because there are areas where the energy potential is great but with real limitations for installing an offshore renewable energy farm. This methodology is based on the development of automated and interactive GIS tools in order to enable the user to change inputs according to his research objectives. The developed tools are applied to a case study referring to the Portuguese coast and the obtained results enable the identification of several areas, suitable for the development of marine renewable energies projects. The methodology and the developed tools intend to be a contribution for the Maritime Spatial Planning of the Portuguese coast and can be applied to other countries as well whenever the necessary information is available. Highlights • Methodology and development of a planning tool for marine renewable energy. • Identification of suitable areas of installing. • GIS tools to change inputs according to his objectives. • Maritime Spatial Planning of the Portuguese coast. • Results identify suitable areas for marine renewable energies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a methodology to determine the installation costs of a floating wind farm installed offshore, the value of which depends on the type of floating offshore wind platform installed. In this context, several costs in the installation process have been defined: installation of the offshore wind generators, installation of the floating offshore wind substructures, installation of the anchoring and mooring, installation of the electric systems and the commissioning or start up of the floating offshore wind farm. Furthermore, several installation scenarios have been taken into consideration regarding the shipyard surface and draught, the number of lifts, the transport, the mooring strategy and the substation configuration. The method, tested for the region of Galicia and for three sorts of floating substructures: spar, semisubmersible and tensioned leg, allows to compare different alternatives of installing a floating offshore and the most important aspects of the costs proposed. It can be useful for investors who decide to use this type of offshore renewable energy in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper compares in economic terms, four technological alternatives to use offshore renewable energies: floating offshore wind energy technology, floating offshore wave energy systems, floating offshore co-located systems and floating offshore hybrid systems. These alternatives are compared considering different locations and sizes of the farms. Studies such as this can be useful for planning strategies and decision-making, particularly to investors that have to decide if and how to develop and deploy particular technologies in deep waters. The results indicate that the best alternative considering the life-cycle cost and LCOE is the floating offshore wind energy technology. Floating offshore co-located systems have the second best result, being a better alternative than floating offshore wave energy devices or floating offshore hybrid systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A methodology is presented to assess the life-cycle costs of combined or hybrid floating offshore renewable energy systems, which is also applicable to general floating offshore renewable energy devices. It accounts explicitly for their life-cycle stages: concept definition, design and development, manufacturing, installation, exploitation and dismantling. It is a tool for decision-making and strategic planning, enabling a better understanding of the technological solutions and the aspects that might accelerate or decelerate the development of the industry. The method presented can be useful for comparing different types of floating offshore hybrid renewable energy technologies in terms of costs. The general methodology has been applied for the particular case of two specific hybrid systems: the W2Power and the Poseidon. Results for two locations in Portugal (São Pedro de Moel and Aguçadoura) indicate that the exploitation, manufacturing and the installation costs are the most important ones, with the exploitation cost being the most important for the W2Power and the manufacturing cost being the most important for the Poseidon. The Levelized Cost Of Energy is lower in São Pedro de Moel but when considering the technology the W2Power has lower Levelized Cost Of Energy in the single unit scenarios and the Poseidon in the farm scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to develop a methodology to determine the economic feasibility of a floating offshore wind farm. The methodology proposed considers that the life-cycle cost of a floating offshore wind farm is composed of the costs of each of the phases of its life-cycle (concept and definition, design and development, manufacturing, installation, exploitation and dismantling). Moreover, they are subdivided considering their sub-costs and taking into account the five components of a floating offshore wind farm: offshore wind turbine, floating platform, mooring, anchoring and electric system. The method ends when the economic feasibility indexes are calculated. The methodology has been used to analyse an offshore location: the Galician region (North-West of Spain). Results indicate that the best economic area in the Galician region is the area located from the Ría de Pontevedra to the Ría de Ribadeo. In addition, comparing the three floating offshore wind platforms, the semisubmersible platform and the spar platform are the best options in economic terms. The method proposed can be used to determine the economic keys in order to develop a floating offshore wind farm in any location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main developments in offshore wind power are focused on wind turbines with foundations on seabed. However, there exist important limitations for installing these structures exist in places with high depth within short distance from the coast. This means that the progress of offshore wind energy around the world is tied to the development of safety and low cost floating platforms for renewable energy offshore devices . Therefore, the first aim of this paper is to know which alternatives exist for a floating offshore wind farm establishment and design parameters are independent or dependent of platform configuration. In order to evaluate each alternative, the request inversion for each configuration has been analysed. From this point of view, the conclusion is that a string configuration for the electrical network is better than a star configuration. With regard to maintenance, it would be better to have a proper vessel only if the number of trips is more than three. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]