This paper investigates the potential and feasibility of the offshore wind energy in Hong Kong. The potential offshore wind farm locations are selected after considering the man-made activities in Hong Kong waters that may come into conflict with the development of the offshore wind farms. The hourly wind data of ten years (2002-2011) in the corresponding potential wind farms are analyzed. The assessment for offshore power potential is obtained with the potential wind farm being optimized using the Multi-Population Genetic Algorithm (MPGA) which aims at getting a minimum cost of energy (COE) with a maximum power generation. The optimal wind turbine layout configurations are proposed with an economic analysis and monthly power generation. Results show that the potential offshore wind farm area in and beyond (2 km away from its boundary) Hong Kong is 357.78 km(2) (21.68% of the HK water area) and southeastern water area is the most suitable location for offshore wind farm development. In additions, the potential annual offshore wind power generation is 112.81 x 10(8) kW h which accounts for 25.06% of the total annual power consumption in 2011 if the wind turbine layout is optimized. The potential monthly offshore wind power contribution to the electricity demand is the highest in October (46.46%) and lowest in August (7.93%). (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.