Novel approach for offshore wind siting using the marine strategy directive framework

Italy is committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050; to do so a significant development of renewable energy capacity is needed. As it is known, wind energy production is one of the most efficient, hence, Italy, in the National Integrated Energy and Climate Action Plan (NIECAP), intends to reach 2050 goal of carbon neutrality by setting the intermediate target of installed wind capacity of 19.3 GW (including 0.9 GW offshore) to be reached by 2030. Therefore, a steep increase of wind energy production is expected, both onshore and offshore. As to offshore wind facilities, their environmental impact is yet to be fully understood. This study’s aim is to provide a novel framework that individuates the principal pressures produced by an offshore wind turbine and the receptors that can be affected by them. However, the ultimate purpose of this analysis is to merge the technological and environmental aspect concerning an offshore wind turbine and identify the optimal site for its construction. To simplify the understanding of the process, it will be applied to a case study which is the Island of San Pietro (or Carloforte Island), located near the south-west coast of Sardinia. The analysis is articulated in multiple steps that bring to the identification of the most suitable area for the implementation of an offshore wind turbine. The first step is to identify the impacts and the factors that they might affect, to do so the Good Environmental Status descriptors, presented in the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/EC) and extended bibliographic research were used. Then the data regarding both the impacts and receptors were retrieved. At the same time, an analysis that explored the wind potential of the area under analysis was conducted on WasP 12 software. The analysis continued by processing environmental and technological data on QGIS software. The processed dataset was then used to carry out the CRITIC analysis, a multicriteria method which aims at finding the objective weights of the considered parameters. The first result was the creation of sustainability index, which identifies the most sustainable areas among the ones contained in the area of investigation developing an in-house environmental impact assessment. The sustainable areas are considered as ones where the implementation of an offshore wind turbine would have a less negative impact from an environmental point of view. The second result of this study is the suitability index, obtained with a second CRITIC analysis that included the sustainability index and the parameters concerning the technology aspect of the offshore wind turbine (the Annual Energy Production and the Bathymetry). Finally, the suitability index identifies the area having the optimal conditions for both the technology and environmental parameters. Hence, the most suitable area is the one where the offshore wind turbine should be placed.