A study on offshore wind farm site selection based on CRITIC and CPT-TOPSIS: a case study of China

PurposeThis study aims to improve the offshore wind farm (OWF) site selection evaluation index system and establishes a decision-making model for OWF site selection. It is expected to provide helpful references for the progress of offshore wind power.Design/methodology/approachFirstly, this paper establishes an evaluation criteria system for OWF site selection, considering six criteria (wind resource, environment, economic, technical, social and risk) and related subcriteria. Then, the Criteria Importance Though Intercrieria Correlation (CRITIC) method is introduced to figure out the weights of evaluation indexes. In addition, the cumulative prospect theory and technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (CPT-TOPSIS) method are employed to construct the OWF site selection decision-making model. Finally, taking the OWF site selection in China as an example, the effectiveness and robustness of the framework are verified by sensitivity analysis and comparative analysis.FindingsThis study establishes the OWF site selection evaluation system and constructs a decision-making model under the spherical fuzzy environment. A case of China is employed to verify the effectiveness and feasibility of the model.Originality/valueIn this paper, a new decision-making model is proposed for the first time, considering the ambiguity and uncertainty of information and the risk attitudes of decision-makers (DMs) in the decision-making process.