###### Abstract  
Nowadays, with large-scale offshore wind power farms (WPFs) becoming a reality, more efforts are needed to maintain a reliable communication network for WPF monitoring. Deployment topologies, redundancy, and network availability are the main items to enhance the communication reliability between wind turbines (WTs) and control centers. Traditional communication networks for monitoring and control (_i.e._, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems) using switched gigabit Ethernet will not be sufficient for the huge amount of data passing through the network. In this paper, the optical power budget, optical path loss, reliability, and network cost of the proposed Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON)-based communication network for small-size offshore WPFs have been evaluated for five different network architectures. The proposed network model consists of an optical network unit device (ONU) deployed on the WT side for collecting data from different internal networks. All ONUs from different WTs are connected to a central optical line terminal (OLT), placed in the control center. There are no active electronic elements used between the ONUs and the OLT, which reduces the costs and complexity of maintenance and deployment. As fiber access networks without any protection are characterized by poor reliability, three different protection schemes have been configured, explained, and discussed. Considering the cost of network components, the total implementation expense of different architectures with, or without, protection have been calculated and compared. The proposed network model can significantly contribute to the communication network architecture for next generation WPFs. E 2016 6 81 2016 2016 2016 2016 2016 2016 2016 2016 2016 2016 2016  
switched gigabit Ethernet will not be adequate for the huge amount of data passing through the network. The need for a new technology that supports high data traffic, satisfies system requirements, and matches the required quality of service (QoS) is needed. In a conventional switched-based architecture, industrial switches are active elements which require a power supply because of powered electronics. Therefore, the network configuration requires an electric power supply as well as backup power in the field. The failure of one switch will disrupt the communication network and may affect the rest of the network. Compared to a normal Ethernet switch, the prices of industrial switches are much more expensive. This paper proposes an EPON (Ethernet Passive Optical Network) technology as one of the promising candidates for next generation WPFs. The topologies used for offshore WPF are based on an electrical collector system (power cables). EPON technology uses optical fiber to transport data. There are no active elements between WTs and their control center, which significantly reduces the network cost. In this paper, we describe the communication network design for the newly-planned WPFs. Many researchers have suggested the application of EPON technology to electric power communication networks. [PERSON] _et al._[1] propose a gateway design for the fiber-wireless sensor network (Fi-WSN) architecture employed in the smart grid environment. The proposed architecture combines the advantage of high speed and low latency for EPON with the flexibility and low cost of WSNs. [PERSON] _et al._[2] propose EPON communication architecture for connecting substations in a power system. The simulation result shows the average packet end-to-end delays and packet loss ratio in both the upstream and downstream. [PERSON] _et al._[3] present a variety of communication technologies for construction of a subscriber power consumption information acquisition system. The paper analyzes different communication technologies, such as optical fiber network (EPON and industrial Ethernet), and wireless networks. [PERSON] _et al._[4] present an integrated communication platform of a photovoltaic (PV) power station, which integrates EPON, power line carrier, and wireless communication.