The influencing factors and hierarchical relationships of offshore wind power industry in China

As a new and cost-effective renewable energy power generation technology, offshore wind power is getting more and more attention. The development of offshore wind power industry is affected by policy-making, technology management, resources and environment, market supply and demand, and the relationship among the influencing factors is complex. This paper analyzes the factors that affect offshore wind power industry from a unique and comprehensive perspective. Fourteen factors are selected and interpretative structural model (ISM) is established to study the relationship between the influencing factors of offshore wind power industry. The results show that 14 influencing factors can be divided into five levels: the first level is the surface factors, including the economic incentive policy, operation mechanism, industrial chain, energy market mechanism, investment, and financing mechanism; the second and third levels are the intermediate factors, including generation cost, operation management, and offshore wind power technology; the fourth and fifth levels are deep-seated factors, including development planning and grid price, site selection, R&D investment, environmental protection policy, and offshore wind power supply. Deep-seated factors have a direct impact on the intermediate factors, the intermediate factors have an important impact on the surface factors, and the surface factors directly affect the development of offshore wind power industry. The influence of the 14 factors selected in this paper on offshore wind power industry is from bottom to top, from deep to shallow.