Reducing Emissions in the Maritime Sector: Offshore Wind Energy as a Key Factor

Abstract

The maritime environment is the setting for a variety of economic activities, such as offshore wind energy, aquaculture, salt extraction, and oil and gas platforms. While some of these activities have a long-term presence, others require decarbonization as they head towards their demise. In this context, the aim of this study is to develop a methodology to replace the electrical energy from offshore high-emission industrial processes with clean electricity generated by offshore wind energy. The proposal is structured in three phases: initiation, which involves the collection of quantitative, technical, and geospatial information of the study area; indicators, where the main indicators are calculated, and the best alternative is selected using multi-criteria evaluation methods; and finally, short-, medium-, and long-term scenarios are proposed. The methodology is evaluated in Spain, and the best alternative, which has a nominal power of 225 MW, is capable of avoiding up to 1.44 MtCO2 by 2050.

Keywords

• offshore wind energy
• optimal selection
• maritime sector
• multi-criteria evaluation methods