Motivated by the need to develop reference wind energy systems for optimisation and technology assessment studies, the International Energy Agency Wind Task 37 on Wind Energy Systems Engineering is developing a reference offshore wind power plant at the Dutch offshore wind energy areas Borssele III and IV. This paper presents a comparison between two approaches for developing the preliminary design of an offshore wind plant turbine layout, electrical collection system, and support structures. The first is a sequential approach, where components of the wind farm are optimised sequentially, each with its own objective function, thus neglecting potential interactions between them. The second approach uses Multidisciplinary Design Analysis and Optimisation (MDAO), where all components are jointly optimised with the overall system levelised cost of energy (LCOE) as a global objective function. Studying the cases of regular and irregular layouts, the integrated approach always shows a greater improvement in the LCOE of the final design compared to the design resulting from the traditional sequential approach. The most significant trade-off exploited by the MDAO approach used in this study is between losses in energy production due to turbine wake effects and the costs of electrical cable infrastructure.

A research agenda is described to further encourage the application of Multidisciplinary Design Analysis and Optimisation (MDAO) methodologies to wind energy systems. As a group of researchers closely collaborating within the International Energy Agency (IEA) Wind Task 37 for Wind Energy Systems Engineering: Integrated Research, Design and Development, we have identi_ed challenges that will be encountered by users building an MDAO framework. This roadmap comprises 17 research questions and activities recognised to belong to three research directions: model _delity, system scope and workow architecture. It is foreseen that sensible answers to all these questions will enable to more easily apply MDAO in the wind energy domain. Beyond the agenda, this work also promotes the use of systems engineering to design, analyse and optimise wind turbines and wind farms, to complement existing compartmentalised research and design paradigms.

A research agenda is described to further encourage the application of Multidisciplinary Design Analysis and Optimisation (MDAO) methodologies to wind energy systems. As a group of researchers closely collaborating within the International Energy Agency (IEA) Wind Task 37 for Wind Energy Systems Engineering: Integrated Research, Design and Development, we have identi_ed challenges that will be encountered by users building an MDAO framework. This roadmap comprises 17 research questions and activities recognised to belong to three research directions: model _delity, system scope and workow architecture. It is foreseen that sensible answers to all these questions will enable to more easily apply MDAO in the wind energy domain. Beyond the agenda, this work also promotes the use of systems engineering to design, analyse and optimise wind turbines and wind farms, to complement existing compartmentalised research and design paradigms.