A Novel Evaluation of Wind Energy Potential in Essaouira Offshore Wind Farm, using Genetic Algorithm and MERRA-2 Reanalysis Data

This paper investigates the potential wind energy and optimal layout of the OFWF (Offshore Wind Farm), hypothetical OFWF (3200 m × 5000 m) located in Essaouira western water. In order to extract the maximum power, from Essaouira’s OFWF, that maximizes the obtained annual profit without losing the optimal layout of WTs (Wind Turbines), we use one powerfull genetic algorithm named MPGA (Multi-Population Genetic Algorithm) combined with twenty years (1998-2017) NASA's MERRA-2 wind data reanalysis. The applicability of NASA's MERRA-2 wind data is at first tested in Essaouira ONWF (Onshore Wind Farm). The obtained results shows that the NASA's MERRA-2 wind data can be applied in any real-world wind farms for simulating wind power output. This new proposed appraoch is promising in terms of the applicability with long-term datasets based on reanalysis data. It is also more suitable when performing the wind resource assessment in OWPP (Offshore Wind Power Project).