Wind resource assessment and site selection of offshore wind farms in the state of Kuwait

Among several countries, Kuwait has made significant progress in transitioning to renewable energy. As a result, the onshore Shagaya renewable energy park was deployed in 2017 with a total capacity of 70 MW. To effectively progress in the development of offshore renewable energy, it is important to conduct a thorough assessment of wind resources. This paper thoroughly examines and identifies the optimal potential geographical locations for offshore wind farm deployment in Kuwait for the first time. In the initial phase, a number of offshore exclusion criteria were established and analyzed, including wind speed, water depth, exclusive economic zone, marine protected areas, subsea cable distribution, mine locations, annual dust deposition, and shipping traffic density. The second phase included the site selection process, during which the ArcGIS-ArcMap package was utilized to exclude pre-defined exclusion criteria. The results indicate that the highest wind speed ranges from 7.5 m/s to 8 m/s, covering a total offshore area of 1234.55 km². In addition, the offshore areas in Kuwait are generally shallow and have water depths ranging from 0 to 20 m, covering a total area of 7458.13 km² in the north. The three optimal offshore wind sites identified in Kuwait are Sabiya Power Station wind farm (Long. 48.3091, Lat. 29.5925), Port of Doha wind farm (Long. 47.9702, Lat. 29.5103) and Camp Arifjan wind farm (Long. 48.236, Lat. 28.9429).