Numerical Modeling of Operation and Maintenance Costs for Floating Offshore Wind Farms in the Mediterranean Sea

As floating offshore wind energy becomes an increasingly viable solution for harvesting renewable energy in deep-water regions, understanding and optimizing operations and maintenance (O&M) costs is essential for ensuring economic sustainability. This thesis aims to investigate main O&M strategies for floating offshore wind farms in the Mediterranean Sea region, due to its potential in both production and accessibility, with a particular emphasis on operational expenditure (OPEX) modeling, by considering the components more prone to failure, the metocean conditions and weather windows. The thesis is organized as follows: firstly, an analysis about existing ports and vessels availability in the Mediterranean region is conducted, to provide context about the current logistic infrastructure to support the growing interest around FOWT. After a literature review about the existing cost models, a MATLAB-based simulation tool is developed to evaluate the impact of maintenance strategies and site-specific accessibility constraints on OPEX outcomes. The tool integrates turbine characteristics, cost parameters, and sea-state data related to different O&M strategies of each component to compute OPEX for corrective maintenance approaches. A comparative case study between two offshore sites, one located in the North Sea and the other in the Mediterranean Sea, highlights how metocean conditions can affect accessibility, downtime, and cost efficiency. Results show that site-specific weather patterns significantly impact O&M logistics and the overall OPEX. In the North Sea, OPEX/MW is 60.7% higher than in the Mediterranean, driven by 55% extra weather downtime and a medium cost per failure approximately €200.000 greater. These findings offer valuable insights for optimizing maintenance planning and decreasing LCOE in floating offshore wind projects, providing meaningful perspectives into how existing support infrastructure in the Mediterranean Sea can be strengthened and expanded to meet the growing demand for offshore wind energy, unlocking the full potential of the region.