Development and application of framework of suitability assessment for onshore wind farm foundations

Abstract: A framework for evaluating different wind turbine foundations has been proposed and applied in six hypothetical case studies located in three sites in different locations throughout Sweden.The framework is based on decision making method PROMETHEE II and consists of nine criteria covering financial, environmental and technical aspects of wind turbine foundations. The foundation has been evaluated from two different stakeholder perspectives – civil designers and financial advisors. Application of this framework has shown that an existing commonly used wind turbine foundation type is not the most favourable alternative, whilst a new market entrant – prefabricated foundation – shows promising results. Using PROMETHEE II it became evident that in any given case, a prefabricated foundation is ranked as the most or a close second to most suitable type of foundation. Gravity caissons ranked as the least favourable option in almost all, except one, case. Comparing these three alternatives prefabricated foundation showed greater economic feasibility, lower impact on environment and technologically more applicable than other alternatives with very few existing drawbacks.