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Floating Offshore Wind

Floating Wind Turbine Designs
Capturing energy from offshore wind using floating foundations.

Offshore wind energy technologies harness kinetic energy from the wind to generate energy and transport that energy back to shore via a subsea export cable. The main advantage of offshore wind energy is access to stronger and more consistent winds, allowing for the use of larger turbines. The development of offshore wind in Europe and Asia has preceded development activities in other parts of the world; however, several projects in the United States are currently underway. Several floating offshore wind energy demonstrations exist throughout the world, but the technology is yet to be widely deployed.

Floating foundations are used at deep depths (40->1000m) and consist of a balanced floating substructure moored to the seabed with fixed cables. The substructure may be stabilized using buoyancy, mooring lines, or a ballast. Several designs for floating offshore wind substructures currently exist for various depth ranges, including barges, semi-submersibles, tension leg platforms, and single point anchorage buoys. These substructures are connected to one another via inter-array cables, which transport electricity generated from the turbine to floating offshore substations. High voltage export cables then transport the energy to shore. To better understand floating offshore wind, explore these videos from RWE.

The environmental concerns associated with offshore wind farms vary with foundation type. In general, collision risk with birds and bats is a major concern, though the impact is more difficult to quantify offshore because carcasses that provide evidence of collisions become lost at sea. As with all electricity generation, there is a slight concern that electromagnetic fields generated by power cables may affect animals that use Earth's natural magnetic field for orientation, navigation, and hunting. Although pile driving is one of the main concerns surrounding fixed offshore wind energy, floating projects can be constructed onshore and transported out to sea, reducing the impacts from construction-related noise and vessels. Floating foundation’s mooring lines may cause minor scouring or pose a risk of collision or entrapment, but the turbine foundation is mostly located in the upper layer of the water column where there tend to be less organisms.

Photo Credit: Joshua Bauer, NREL

Marine and Wind Energy Environmental Documents

Tethys is a knowledge hub that contains documents on the environmental effects of wind and marine energy. The table below contains all of the documents in the Tethys Knowledge Base associated with Floating Offshore Wind.

Total: 788

Title Author Date Content Type Technology Stressor Receptor
Maine Deepwater Offshore Wind Report University of Maine, Rockefeller Brothers Fund Report Wind Energy, Floating Offshore Wind Human Dimensions, Environmental Impact Assessment
Monitoring and Mitigation Alternatives for Protection of North Atlantic Right Whales during Offshore Wind Farm Installation Carlson, T., Halvorsen, M., Matzner, S. Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Noise Marine Mammals, Human Dimensions, Navigation
ESRa - Evaluation of Systems for Ramming Noise Mitigation at an Offshore Test Pile Wilke, F., Kloske, K., Bellmann, M. Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Noise Marine Mammals
Wind Energy Plants and Possible Effects on Samandağ Sea Turtles Yalçın-Özdilek, S., Yalçın, S. Magazine Article Wind Energy, Land-Based Wind, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind EMF, Habitat Change Reptiles, Sea Turtles
The Interaction of Pelagic, Migratory and Protected Fishes with Marine Renewable Energy Projects: Recent Studies and Knowledge Gaps Nelson, P. Presentation Marine Energy, Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Avoidance, EMF, Habitat Change Fish, Pelagic Fish
Spawning and nursery grounds of selected fish species in UK waters Ellis, C., Milligan, S., Readdy, L. Report Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Fish
HYWIND Acoustic Measurement Report Martin, B., MacDonnell, J., Vallarta, J. Report Wind Energy, Floating Offshore Wind Noise Marine Mammals
Final Environmental Assessment of Maine's Deepwater Offshore Floating Wind Turbine Testing and Demonstration Project US Department of Energy (DOE) Report Wind Energy, Floating Offshore Wind Human Dimensions, Environmental Impact Assessment
Forecasting the consequences of climate-driven shifts in human behavior on cetaceans Alter, S., Simmonds, M., Brandon, J. Journal Article Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Attraction, Avoidance, Collision, Habitat Change Fish, Marine Mammals, Cetaceans, Human Dimensions, Fisheries
Unitech Zefyros (Hywind Demo) Siemens Project Site Wind Energy, Floating Offshore Wind
Ammonia Energy Storage, Transmission and Usage Development for Offshore Wind and Applicability to OTEC Hart, G., Holbrook, J. Conference Paper Marine Energy, OTEC, Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Physical Environment
Testing and validation of automated whistle and click detectors using PAMGUARD 1.0 Yack, T., Barlow, J., Rankin, S. Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Avoidance, Displacement, Habitat Change, Noise Marine Mammals
Communication Towers, Lights, and Birds: Successful Methods of Reducing the Frequency of Avian Collisions Gehring, J., Kerlinger, P., Manville, A. Journal Article Wind Energy, Land-Based Wind, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Lighting Bats, Birds, Fish
Life cycle assessment of a floating offshore wind turbine Weinzettel, J., Reenaas, M., Solli, C. Journal Article Wind Energy, Floating Offshore Wind Human Dimensions, Life Cycle Assessment
SEM-REV Sea Test Site Ecole Central de Nantes (ECN) Project Site Marine Energy, Wave, Wind Energy, Floating Offshore Wind
Over the sea and far away? A consideration of the planning, politics and public perception of offshore wind farms Haggett, C. Journal Article Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Human Dimensions, Social & Economic Data, Stakeholder Engagement, Visual Impacts
PLOCAN Marine Test Site for Ocean Energy Converters Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (PLOCAN) Project Site Marine Energy, OTEC, Wave, Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind
Biscay Marine Energy Platform (BiMEP) Arrecife Energy Systems , Ente Vasco de la Energía (EVE) , IDOM , SAITEC Offshore Technologies , Tecnalia , Wello Oy Project Site Marine Energy, Wave, Wind Energy, Floating Offshore Wind
Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Alternative Energy Development and Production and Alternate Use of Facilities on the Outer Continental Shelf US Minerals Management Service (MMS), US Department of the Interior (DOI) Report Marine Energy, Ocean Current, Wave, Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind
Decommissioning Programme for Hywind Scotland Pilot Park Statoil Report Wind Energy, Floating Offshore Wind Habitat Change Physical Environment, Human Dimensions, Environmental Impact Assessment
Perception of Low-Frequency Acoustic Signals by a Harbour Propoise (Phocoena phocoena) in the Presence of Simulated Offshore Wind Turbine Noise Lucke, K., Lepper, P., Hoeve, B. Journal Article Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Noise Marine Mammals
SuperGen Marine Energy Research Wallace, R., Ingram, D., Jeffrey, H. Research Study Marine Energy, Tidal, Wave, Wind Energy, Floating Offshore Wind Changes in Flow, Collision, Habitat Change Birds, Invertebrates, Marine Mammals
Influence of offshore windmills on migration birds in southeast coast of Sweden Pettersson, J., Stalin, T. Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Birds, Seabirds
Atlas of Cetacean distribution in north-west European waters Reid, J., Evans, P., Northridge, S. Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Marine Mammals
Co-Occurrence of Cetaceans and Seabirds in the Northeast Atlantic Skov, H., Durinck, J., Danielsen, F. Journal Article Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Birds, Seabirds, Marine Mammals, Cetaceans
An Analysis of the Efficacy of Four Artificial Reef Designs in Tropical Waters Brock, R., Norris, J. Journal Article Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Habitat Change Ecosystem Processes, Fish, Invertebrates
Atlantic Marine Energy Test Site (AMETS) Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) Project Site Marine Energy, Wave, Wind Energy, Floating Offshore Wind
Firefly/Bandibuli Floating Wind Farm Project Site Wind Energy, Floating Offshore Wind

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