## 2 Materials and Methods
### Fixed and Floating Wind Farms Valuations  
Data used for the fixed and floating offshore windfarm capital and operating expenditure, is drawn from the author's interpretation of the published figures from the 2016 Cost of Wind Energy Review [15], System Advisor Model (SAM) legacy version 2013 [16] and Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2012: An Overview [25].  
[PERSON] et al. [26] concluded that the Fixed-Bottom Offshore Reference Project the expected turbine capital costs is 1660 $/kW. Equating that term to a European figure expected in 2012, provides a value of 1200 \(\mathcal{E}\)/kW. This value is supported by International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) publishing the weighted average cost of the turbine at 1600 $/kW for 2010 [26].  
From the published percentage breakdowns of LCOE model evaluations by NREL, as shown in Tables 7 and 8. A calculator was developed to replicate the NREL model performance. The turbine cost was extrapolated from the data to replicate the remainder of the CAPEX and OPEX expenditure values used in the remaining calculator models [17].  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c} \hline \hline
**Scenario** & **Multiplication Factor** \\ \hline Very Low & 0.50 \\ Low & 0.75 \\ Mid & 1.00 \\ High & 1.25 \\ Very High & 1.50 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 6: Financial Scenarios.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline
**Parameter** & **Fixed** & **Floating** \\ \hline Turbine (\(\mathcal{E}\)/kW) & 1200.00 & 1200.00 \\ Development (\(\mathcal{E}\)/kW) & 51.06 & 54.30 \\ Engineering and Management (\(\mathcal{E}\)/kW) & 58.36 & 119.46 \\ Substructure and Foundation (\(\mathcal{E}\)/kW) & 503.34 & 1965.61 \\ Site Access, Staging and Port (\(\mathcal{E}\)/kW) & 18.24 & 32.58 \\ Electrical Infrastructure (\(\mathcal{E}\)/kW) & 328.27 & 570.14 \\ Assembly and Installation (\(\mathcal{E}\)/kW) & 693.01 & 602.71 \\ Plant Commissioning (\(\mathcal{E}\)/kW) & 29.18 & 43.44 \\ Insurance (\(\mathcal{E}\)/kW) & 36.47 & 54.30 \\ Decommissioning (\(\mathcal{E}\)/kW) & 178.72 & 65.16 \\ Contingency (\(\mathcal{E}\)/kW) & 317.33 & 347.51 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 7: Fixed and Floating Parameter Valuations [17].  
Applying the same scenario method to the floating and fixed calculators, there are over six billion possible combinations that can be applied to the calculators for all location parameters, areas, sites, turbine specifications. Rating and quantity are based on Scottish Exclusive Economic Zone from offshore Sectoral Marine Plan [2] as illustrated in Figure 2 where it will be the basis for the first part of the flow chart as illustrated in Figure 3.  
Results presented in this paper are done across all scenarios sets with all parameters set at the same multiplication factor for simplicity. A flowchart detailing the sequential steps taking to produce an LCOE from the calculators can be seen in Figure 3.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline
**Parameter** & **Fixed** & **Floating** \\ \hline Finance (\(\ell\)/kW) & 233.43 & 380.09 \\ OPEX (\(\ell\)/kW) & 50 & 38.4 \\ Nameplate Capacity (MW) & 800 & 800 \\ Net Capacity Factor (\%) & 48 & 48 \\ Operational Years (years) & 25 & 25 \\ Discount Rate (\%) & 8.9 & 8.9 \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 7: _Cont._  
Figure 2: Wind Development Sites [2].  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline
**Fixed—Bottom** & **Fixed—Bottom** & **Floating Substructure** & **Floating Substructure** \\
**Substructure (\(\ell\)/kW/Year)** & **Substructure (\(\ell\)/kW)** & **(\(\ell\)/kW/Year)** & **(\(\ell\)/kW)** \\ \hline Operation & 23.3 & 6.39 & 23.3 & 6.4 \\ Maintenance & 95.4 & 26.1 & 46.6 & 12.8 \\ OPEX & 118.7 & 32.5 & 69.9 & 19.2 \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 8: Fixed and Floating Parameter Values [17].