Challenges in the Supply Chain Management Process for Offshore Wind Farms. A Scoping Review of Decision Support Tools Utilizing Discrete Event Simulation

Offshore wind energy (OWE) has become a key component of the global transition toward renewable energy; however, its supply chains remain highly complex due to harsh marine conditions, weather dependency, logistical constraints, and high capital intensity. In this context, decision support systems (DSSs) based on discrete event simulation (DES) are increasingly applied to improve planning and operational efficiency. This study aims to systematically identify offshore wind supply chain (OWSC) challenges addressed in the literature, evaluate the application of DES-based DSS, assess the methodological quality of existing studies, and highlight research gaps and future directions. A PRISMA-guided scoping review was conducted using a predefined protocol, covering English-language journal, conference, and technical publications from 2010 to 2025. Following database searches, deduplication, and screening, 30 studies were included from an initial set of 712 records. The results show that DES is widely adopted, with 63% of studies using pure DES and 37% employing hybrid simulation–optimization approaches; 67% of studies included case-based validation. Seven major categories of challenges were identified: weather and metocean conditions, vessel and fleet management, installation processes, port and logistics operations, operations and maintenance, information and coordination, and cost/time optimization. Reported benefits of DES-based DSS include improvements in cost efficiency, time performance, system availability, and resource utilization. The findings confirm that DES constitutes a robust and effective foundation for decision support in offshore wind logistics, particularly under uncertainty and resource constraints, while hybrid approaches further enhance its capabilities. Nevertheless, significant gaps remain, including inconsistent modeling assumptions (especially regarding metocean workability), limited transparency in verification and validation processes, and insufficient coverage of emerging areas such as floating wind, decommissioning, and digital integration (e.g., IoT, AI, and digital twins). These findings underline the need for improved standardization, reporting practices, and benchmark datasets in future research.