A Hybrid Alternatives Analysis Of An Offshore Wind Installation In The Mediterranean Sea: How Pivotal Are The Technological Aspects?

The European Commission, through the REPower EU plan, has set a target of 1,236 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030. The achievement of this target represents an intermediate step towards the zero-emissions scenario by 2050, which requires an extensive deployment of renewable energy capacity that cannot borne exclusively by onshore technologies (e.g., photovoltaic, and onshore wind). Moreover, since the deployment of onshore traditional renewable energy technologies forces a high level of soil consumption, the spatial energy planning of remote and isolated energy systems is crucial, such as the islands of the Mediterranean Sea. The wide presence of protected environmental areas, i.e. Natura 2000 Network, and, cultural-heritage broad zones, reduce the availability of suitable areas to exploit renewable energy increasing the possibility of the birth of the Not in My Back Yard (NIMBY) phenomena. In light of this, despite the current high capital cost, offshore wind facilities play a leading role in the communities’ decarbonization pathways as envisaged by the European Commission with the COM (2023) 668 “Delivering on the EU offshore renewable energy ambitions”. Even though there will be an increase in the offshore wind’s planned capacity in the Mediterranean Sea, a significant mistrust pertains to the small communities causing oppositional movements, mainly enforced by the possible environmental, cultural-heritage and, economic impacts related to the installations of offshore wind farms. An analysis of the technological and siting alternatives to and for an offshore wind farm on the island of Lampedusa, located in the Strait of Sicily, is provided, proposing a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making approach supported by a GIS tool. Adopting customised performance indicators, both technical and socio-environmental, we propose an analysis of suitable areas, in compliance with the inforce Italian regulatory framework, near the island of Lampedusa, and assess the extent to which the technical parameters are conducive to identifying the best trade-offs for offshore wind installation. Finally, we propose a methodological benchmark to support the installation of offshore energy projects in the small islands of the Mediterranean Sea. The study shows that different investigation perspectives give contradictory installation sites, highlighting that distance from the cost highly conflicts with the distribution of marine mammals taken into account in the investigation.