A Review of Decision Support Models for Offshore Wind Farms with an Emphasis on Operation and Maintenance Strategies

Abstract

Plans to build a large number of offshore wind farms have created a need for decision support in the planning process to choose the most cost-efficient alternatives. This paper gives an overview of existing commercial as well as non-commercial decision support models along with their main characteristics. It focuses mainly on operation and maintenance, but also covers offshore logistics, power production and total project cost to a limited extent. The models were found through an extensive search of published literature, research organizations, research projects, and consulting companies. The search detected 49 models that address parts of the life cycle or the whole life cycle of an offshore wind farm.