Robust bilevel ocean zoning for marine renewable energy, fishery and conservation with fairness concern

• Published in: Information sciences 2023-12, Vol.650, p.119702, Article 119702
• Main Authors: Jia, Ruru, Gao, Jinwu, Li, Jian, Li, Lin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Co-location of marine renewable energy and fishery; Decision-dependent distributional ambiguity; Fairness concern; Ocean zoning; Robust optimization
• ISSN: 0020-0255; 1872-6291
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ins.2023.119702

With the stormy growth of marine renewable energy (MRE) and fishery, fair ocean zoning becomes crucial pillar for reconciling conservation and development. Furthermore, the ocean zoning problem with fairness is complicated by ambiguous spatial demand and suitability values (MRE, fishery, and conservation) due to the scarce data and complex environment. To effectively address this issue, we study an ocean zoning problem with fairness concerns under a public-private partnership from robust perspective, to design a spatial area-allocating scheme for the local authority and a fair spatial zone-layout strategy for sea users (MRE developer, fishery developer, and conservation manager). In the problem, a co-location strategy of MRE and fishery is established as a constraint to relieve spatial pressure and reduce development costs. We propose a robust bilevel ocean zoning model with demand ambiguity and decision-dependent value ambiguity impacted co-location decisions. Model analysis over fairness-concern degrees and a case study of the Huanghai sea justify several significant insights. First, a win-win strategy with cost advantage and a highly suitable spatial layout is obtained if the local authority realizes fairness preferences of sea users and sea users show moderate fairness concerns. Second, the robust strategy with decision-dependent value ambiguity may reduce the cost objective and increase the co-location area. Last but not least, the co-location strategy of MRE and fishery not only exerts economic advantage but also improves marine spatial utilization. •A robust bilevel ocean zoning model is the first developed for ocean zoning problem.•Fairness concern in term of spatial suitability is embedded in utility functions.•Co-location strategy of MRE and fishery is modeled from economic and spatial aspects.•Decision-dependent value ambiguities and demand ambiguity are considered.•Several significant insights into the ocean zoning in the Huanghai sea are obtained.