Multicriteria Decision Approach to the Design of Floating Wind Farm Export Cables

Abstract

This paper addresses subsea electric cable routing using the application of decision support systems combined with the experts’ knowledge. The methodology is successfully applied to a case study on the Spanish coast. The ranking method calculates the multiple criteria weights, and the weighted product method determines the most suitable space. The environmental criteria, with a weight of 61.4%, exceed the significance of other essential criteria in the study based on experts’ considerations. These rankings are input into the model to extract the suitable spaces to deploy the underwater cable. The final result accurately highlights an optimal route in alignment with the experts’ preferences.

Keywords

• cable route
• floating wind farms
• MCDM
• offshore export cable
• ranking method
• weighted product method