Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 International Journal of Energy and Environmental Engineering https://doi.org/10.1007/s40095-021-00421-0 ORIGINAL RESEARCH A model proposal for selecting the installation location of ofshore wind energy turbines Mehmet Kabak 1  · Sinem Akalın 1 Received: 18 March 2021 / Accepted: 13 August 2021 © Islamic Azad University 2021 Abstract Renewable energy has an important role in every country as it meets the energy needs of countries with natural resources by reducing their external dependency, increasing their sustainable energy orientation and minimizing the environmental damage caused by energy consumption. Turkey is approximately 72% dependent on foreign energy and has turned to renew- able energy sources to reduce this rate since 2009. In 2019, it supplied 46% of its energy needs from renewable sources. It aims to increase the share of resources in total electricity generation up to 65% in 2023 and continues its investments in this regard. In the study, a decision model using the Geographic Information System (GIS) and Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) is proposed to expose Turkey's current renewable energy potential and to determine the regions where wind power plants can be established in the Aegean Sea. In the proposed algorithm, criteria were determined in the Aegean Sea Çanakkale Region, in order to determine the regions where the wind energy turbines would be located, and priority values were determined with FAHP. Priorities with the determined vector data format were combined into one layer by combining them in GIS software ArcGIS. The examined region was divided into three categories (the most appropriate, appropriate, and not suitable) and sensitivity analysis was carried out. Keywords Renewable energy · Wind · Multi-criteria decision-making · Geographic information system (GIS) · Fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) Introduction Renewable energy sources (RES) are defned as the energy that can exist exactly the next day in the cycle of nature, reduce carbon dioxide emissions (release to the atmosphere), help preserve nature, decrease energy dependency, become domestic and ongoing resources, and increase employment. Renewable energy sources can be listed as solar, hydro, wind, current, tidal and wave energy [1]. The importance given to renewable energy sources in the world and the wind energy, as one of these sources, is increasing day by day. The energy obtained from ofshore turbines in the produc- tion of energy from the wind source is much more than the wind turbines on the land, as the place of installation is large, transportation, maintenance, repair facilities are higher, the noise and visual pollution is less due to the distance to the land, and the wind speed is higher. Therefore, ofshore wind energy is highly preferred. Ofshore wind power plants were frst established in Denmark in 1991 and continued to be installed in other Northern European countries in the fol- lowing years. Especially England has invested heavily in ofshore wind energy turbine farms. Today, many countries are working on this technology [2]. More than 100 countries in the world produce electricity with wind energy. Countries with the highest installed wind energy power are China, the United States, and Germany. Referring to Turkey, the wind power plant installations ranks 7th in Europe although it ranks 12th in the world in terms of the whole land of wind generation facilities [3]. The total installed wind energy capacity in Turkey increased from 364 megawatts to over 8,800 megawatts between 2008 and 2020 as seen at the Fig. 1. In this study, the most suitable locations for the establish- ment of ofshore wind turbines in Turkey’s Aegean coast are aimed to identify. * Mehmet Kabak mkabak@gazi.edu.tr Sinem Akalın sinem.kandeger@gmail.com 1 Department of Industrial Engineering, Gazi University, Maltepe, 06570 Ankara, Turkey