Offshore solar farm siting in the Aegean Sea

Climate change and its environmental effects have raised the need to use mild forms of energy. Solar photovoltaic panels and wind turbines are by far the biggest drivers of the rapid increase in renewable energy electricity generation. There are several technologies of photovoltaic systems such as ground systems, photovoltaic installed on roofs, floating systems, etc. The aim of this paper is to identify and prioritize the appropriate sites for offshore solar farm (OSF) siting in the Aegean Sea (Greece), considering various restrictions and several evaluation criteria. The methodology includes: i) definition of the study area, ii) selection of exclusion criteria iii) geospatial depiction of incompatible sites, iv) selection of assessment criteria and v) application of entropy weight method and TOPSIS to hierarchically rank the sustainable sites for offshore solar farm deployment. Nine (9) eligible Greek marine sites in the Aegean Sea (of total surface area that equals to 17.25km2) have been identified and are candidates for further evaluation. The three first most appropriate sites for the OSF siting in the Aegean Sea correspond to marine areas located close to, Thasos, Samothrace and Crete. The exploitation of offshore solar energy could be the way to make many coastal regions, islands and remote locations sustainable.