Background 1.

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Introduction 1.1
A constantly growing global population, increasing land usage, and increasing dependency on
fossil fuels is pushing countries all over the world into shifting their reliance more toward renewable
energy sources. While the initial costs of developing technologies to extract and obtain such energy can
be high, after a few years the investments start to pay off. One of such technologies are offshore wind
farms. They are a relatively new technology, but could amount to a huge part of our renewable energy
needs. Offshore wind energy, while it may have negative effects on wildlife, could satisfy up to 30% of a
countrys energy needs.
Brief History 1.2
The first offshore wind farm touched waters and became operational in 1990, in Sweden (Sun,
2012). It produced relatively less energy (220kW) than wind farms that were being built in later years.
1991 was the year the first large offshore wind farm was constructed, and it had the power of 4.95 MW
(Bilgili, Yasar & Simsek, 2011). Since then European countries have continued to lead the world in
installed offshore wind capacity. As of 30 June 2011, 1247 offshore wind turbines have been fully grid
connected in Europe with a total capacity of 3,294 MW in 49 wind farms spread over 9 European
countries, in which UK, Denmark, Netherlands and Belgium are at the top (Sun, 2012, p. 299). In other
parts of the word, development offshore has been slower. China, a country with a high wind energy
potential of an estimated 750 GW, by 2010 only had one operational wind farm- Shanghai Donghai
Bridge Wind Farm located in the East China Sea (Sun, 2012). However, China continues to expand its
number of wind farms. Two more offshore wind farms have been approved in 2011 and several others are
being proposed (Sun, 2012).
Technology 1.3
The design aspect of offshore wind turbines is fairly similar to those that are built for onshore
electricity generation. Offshore turbines consist of foundation, which includes monopile and transition
piece, a tower, and nacelle (the actual turbine) and three rotor blades. The monopile part of the foundation
is made of steel and is embedded 25 to 30 m below the mudline (Transportation Research Board, pg 21).
A transition piece is then mounted on the part of a monopile that protrudes above the water line and it
connects the tower to foundation (Transportation Research Board, pg 21). The tower is also made out of
steel and it holds the nacelle which has a gearbox and generator inside, some of the main components
needed to convert mechanical energy into electricity (Malhotra, pg 233). Although offshore turbines have
similar design to turbines we see on land, they have to be made stronger and more durable due to stronger
offshore winds and to be able to withstand water pressure. For this reason the rotor blades are made out of
fiberglass and polyester or carbon fiber composites and the foundation is made using reinforced concrete

or steel (Malhotra, pg 232 ). To counteract them being in water, turbines are coated with anti-corrosive
solutions and are painted a light gray color to minimize visual impacts (Transportation Research Board,
pg 19). On top of that, they are equipped with fog signals, aircraft warning lights, as well as CMSs
(condition monitoring systems) which monitors operational parameters such as above-nacelle wind
speed and direction, generator electrical output, generator winding temperature, main shaft rotational
speed, bearing temperatures, and fluid temperatures and pressures of gearbox lubricating oil and hydraulic
control systems (Transportation Research Board, pg 19).

The way turbines produce electricity is as follows: incoming wind causes the rotor blades to
rotate which then spin a shaft which is attached to a gearbox. The gearbox drives the generator which then
converts the energy into electrical energy. After all of this takes place in the nacelle, the current travels
down to the base of the tower where a transformer converts it to a higher voltage. It then travels onshore
through electrical cables that are buried under the sea floor. Offshore turbines can start to produce
electricity when wind speeds reach 9-10m/s but have to be shut down if wind speeds reach 25 m/s to
prevent any damages to the turbines (Malhotra, pg 233). The layout of the turbines also affects efficiency.
Operating turbines create what is known as wake effects. As incoming wind passes through a turbine,
making it spin, the wind that leaves the turbine is lower in energy and changes direction. Thus, placing
wind turbines too close behind one another results in energy production losses as less direct wind reaches
the second turbine. When considering the layout of wind farms, models of energy production and cable
costs have to be overlaid to find the most optimum layout design. As of currently, a good arrangement
includes having turbines perpendicular to the wind direction and spacing them 5-10 rotor diameters
within a row and having rows 7 to 10 rotor diameters apart (Sun, 2012).
Introduction to Future Plans 1.4
The amount of power an offshore wind farm generates for a country depends on wind speeds in
the area, turbines structural capacity, the size of the wind farm, and how long the turbines are down due
to repairs. Based on data from 2010, European offshore wind sites with the largest energy production
capacities include Horns Rev- Denmark , Nysted- Denmark, and Prinses Amalia-Netherlands, with

capacities of 160MW, 165.6MW and 120MW respectively (Bilgili et al., 2011). By the year 2011, the
United Kingdom had developed the largest offshore wind market which includes more than 1.3 GW of
installed power capacity within its fifteen wind farms and another 6 GW were under construction or were
being planned (Thomsen, pg. 17). Their current plan is to install more wind farms totaling 10-26GW by
2020. However, UK also has the potential to install an additional 40GW by 2030 which would power all
of the homes in the country (Thomsen, pg. 17). Other future plans for European countries include:
Denmark- additional 1.35GW installation by 2022; Netherlands- 3.5 GW by 2023; Germany has a target
of reaching 6.5 GW by 2020 (Rodriguez, 2015). Overall, the European Wind Energy Association
(EWEA) anticipates a 40GW installed capacity by 2020, which would be enough to cover 3.6-4.3 percent
of Europes electricity demand (Busch, Kannen, Garthe & Jessopp, 2013).

Market shares for commissioned and under construction European OWPs [15], [16], [17] and [21]. (a)
Number of OWPs per country. Others: Sweden 5, Finland 2, Ireland 1, Norway 1, Portugal 1. (b) Installed
capacity (MW) per country. Others: Finland 32.3 MW, Ireland 25.2 MW, Norway 2.3 MW, Portugal
2 MW, Sweden 201.4 MW. (c) Number of turbines installed per country. Others: Finland 9, Ireland 7,
Norway 1, Portugal 1, Sweden 86. (d) Number of OWPs per sea basin. Others: Atlantic Ocean 1, Ems
River 1, Lake Vanern 1, Limfjorden 1.
Case Studies 2.0
Negative Case Study 2.1
While the numbers seem promising and achievement of such propositions is probable, offshore wind
turbine installations come with some adversities. An article published in 2013 covers one of such
problems- the impact offshore wind farms have on seabirds at the North Sea, in the areas of proposed
offshore wind farm sites. Data covering distribution and abundance of seabirds in the North Sea have
been collected by various research groups over the years. While various collection methods were used,
the study only focuses on ship-based surveys. The results of the many surveys include distribution of the
northern gannet, lesser black-backed gulls and divers. These bird species are referred to as nationally
approval-relevant priority species and have been selected on the basis of their importance in national

planning and/or approval schemes and their conservation status and vulnerability in relation to OWFs
( Busch et al., 2013). It was found that Northern gannets were the most widely distributed bird species in
the area, having high abundances along the Scottish and Dutch coast lines, as well as the Shetland Islands.
Lesser black-backed gulls were also observed along the coasts of Belgium, Netherlands and Germany as
well as UKs coastline but with some exceptions. Lastly, divers were mainly found close to coasts of
Germany, Netherlands and Belgium and their numbers decreased further away from the shore. This data
allows the calculation of habitat loss due to offshore wind farm installations. In fact, researchers found
that divers would be facing the most habitat loss. This is due to their preference of coastal areas and
installation of wind farms typically occurs close to mainland. Calculated habitat loss for diver species is
12.20 percent. Northern gannets would experience a lower habitat loss due to their wider distribution
compared to divers but nonetheless 9.1 percent of their most favorable areas would be potentially lost to
offshore wind farm development. Lastly, lesser black-back gulls would lose about 14 percent of the areas
that they most abundantly occupy (Busch et al., 2013). The habitat loss can come in the form of
displacement from resting and feeding grounds, and mortality due to collisions with the turbines.
Positive Case study 2.2
As the installation of off shore wind farms increases, the amount of ways marine environments
that are effected increase. Research for these large-scale wind farms are still in the beginning stages to
know how this renewable energy source exactly affects marine life. Most research is focused on fish,
marine mammals, the effects of electromagnetic fields, noise, and benthic communities. Unfortunately,
there is a lack of long term research of the effects of offshore wind farms since this is a fairly new energy
resource, but since the installations of the current wind farms, studies of colonization have been
conducted.
According to Olivia Langhamer, Department of Biology at Norwegian University of Science and
Technology, a majority of these offshore wind farms will soon be colonized by a wide variety of marine
fish, doubling as an artificial reef. Compared to soft bottom areas, artificial reefs tend to hold greater
densities of fish as well as provide higher catch rates. For technical reasons, wind farms are usually
constructed on soft bottom ocean floors. Building a wind farm that could also become a habitat would add
biodiversity, turning the area into a species rich environment (Langhamer 2012).
Over the next decade or two, the abundance of these offshore wind farms is projected to increase
which will give marine life more of these artificial reefs. Specific species live in these hard substrate
habitats. Bottom trawling and dredging from commercial fishing has decreased the amount of hard
bottom seafloors which has decreased the amount of species in these areas. The need of protected areas
and in specific, no-trawling zones has increased. Establishing offshore wind farms will make it nearly

impossible to trawl close to the devices since there is a certain safety zone where fishing will not be
allowed (Langhamer, 2012).

In a research study, preformed by Jan T. Reubens in the Belgian part of the North Sea, Atlantic
Cod were tagged and monitored near offshore wind farms. Atlantic Cod is a demersal fish species that are
found in the North Atlantic Ocean and are widely distributed throughout the North Sea. The research
objectives of this study were to; improve knowledge on individual behavior of Atlantic cod in relation to
windmill artificial reefs (WARs), investigate the small-scale habitat selectivity within an offshore wind
farm, and to investigate seasonal changes of Atlantic Cod distribution near WARs (Reubens, 2013).
A total of 22 Atlantic Cod were collected between May and July 2011 and were tagged using
coded transmitters. Summer through autumn residency and site fidelity were investigated during the short
term, while seasonality presence of cod was investigated during the long term. The results of the short
term investigation found that 18 of the tagged fish were detected for 5 up to 150 days. Many fish were
present on a daily basis throughout the entire monitoring period within the study site. The results of the
long term investigation found that fish were present within the study area for an extended period of time
during the summer and autumn months. During the winter, fewer detections were found in the study site
(Reubens, 2013).

Figure 1: shows an overview of the study area and the calculated positions of the monitored
Atlantic Cod.

Problems and Solutions 3.0

Problems 3.1
While offshore wind turbines can be very beneficial to a countrys economy, and can also lower
the amount of greenhouse gases being emitted, they come with their own set of problems. In the area of
costs, investment costs go up with water depth and distance from the shore. It is estimated that foundation
cost alone, for turbines between 1-1.5 MW can go up from 317,000 euros (344,119 dollars) at 7m depth to
352,000 euros (382,113 dollars) at 16m. On top of that, the cost of accessing and maintaining turbines
will go up with increasing distance from the coast due to harsher weather conditions (Sun, 2012). Some of
the reason why wind farms cannot be built too close to the coast line include the effect turbine
development has on wildlife habitat, visual impact, and decreased wind speed closer to the shore resulting
in lower energy production. Besides costs, peoples lack of acceptance of offshore wind farms is another
key issue. Half of the worlds population lives among the coasts, and many feel that offshore wind farms
obstruct their view of the nature. They also believe nature should be kept away from industrial
developments. To change their views, offshore wind farms would have to be installed much further from
the coast than they are now, but this would bring about financial and technical problems (Haggett, 2011).
The biggest hurdle to overcome in order to have offshore windfarms is the permission and approval
processes. In the case of wind farm development in Europe, while there is no European-wide laws or
permission processes that every country has to follow, each offshore wind farm installation is subject to
individual countrys laws as well as regulations covering sea ecology, shipping, nature conservation and
environment (Thomsen, pg. 22). Offshore wind farm developments in Germany have to undergo a

planning approval process which includes the applicant submitting various documentation which is then
sent out to public interest parties (Water and Shipping Authority, Federal Environmental Agency etc.) for
review. If they have any questions or concerns, the applicant then has to provide additional information,
such as surveys or reports to address any concerns. Permission is given when no further concerns arise,
and all of the laws are being followed. However, this process becomes more problematic and takes longer
when the permit is needed for offshore wind farm development in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
Development in the EEZ is subject to various international laws since multiple nations have the right over
this area (Thomsen, pg. 24).
Offshore wind farms have two major sets of electricity cables, one is the internal grid between the
turbines and the other is the export cable that transmits the electricity generated by the entire wind farm to
the electrical grid on land. These cables transmit an electromagnetic field that could potentially effect
marine life. Even though little is known on exactly how the EMF effects the marine animals, there is
concerns with crustaceans and their sensitivity to this electromagnetic field. There is evidence that the
EMF influences their ability to locate food in these locations. Research has also been done on mussels,
prawns, isopods and crabs but there is no significant recordings of reactions after the exposure to
electromagnetic fields (WWF, 24).
Solutions 3.2
Although there are some negative effects on wildlife with the development of offshore wind
farms, there are solutions to fix these problems. Offshore wind farms are still a very new concept to create
renewable energy. Europe has been at the top of the development of these offshore wind farms and from
their research we can continue to make them more wildlife-friendly.
The National Wildlife Federation has come up with numerous solutions to help scientists make
offshore wind energy less of an environmental nuisance. One solution the NWF came up with was to steer
the project further offshore. Even though the price of installation and transmission will increase, this will
ensure to avoid environmental and other potential conflicts such as military needs. Environmentally, avian
species abundance and diversity decreases as the distance from the shoreline increases. Another solution
is to minimize wind farms in biologically sensitive areas. Biologically sensitive areas include shoals,
boulder reefs, the mouths of inlets, and migration and breeding areas. If farms are a safe distance from
these areas, it will help sustain healthy populations of wildlife (NWF, 2015).
Scientists and engineers also have to take the environment and wildlife into consideration when
they are installing the offshore wind farms. The construction noise has been proven to effect fish and
other marine mammals. Impacts of this noise include; temporary hearing loss, movement out of the area
or reproductive areas, and even possibly death for fish. To decrease these impacts, multiple migration
patterns and habitat uses should be considered before construction. A pinger has also been used during

installation. A pinger is a device that transmits an acoustic signal underwater that scares away both fish
and marine animals before construction commences (WWF, 2014).
Birds have also been impacted by the development of offshore wind farms including the
displacement from existing habitats, risk of collision with the turbines and wind farms have become a
migration barrier for birds. To avoid displacement, certain areas should not be developed. Even though
some birds have been shown to adapt to wind parks, to avoid the potential displacement, construction
should be far out to sea where the abundance of birds is significantly smaller. Similarly, with migration
patterns and the development of these farms. By collecting research, scientists and engineers can detect
where most migration patterns are located. Lastly, to avoid collision, height measurements should be
adjusted to be lower then flight heights of birds (WWF, 2014).
Prospects 4.0
Globally, the demand for renewable energy sources is rapidly increasing because of the climate
change and our oil sources are depleting. These environmental issues are giving countries the incentive to
go green and invest in renewable resources. Wind energy is a clean and fairly inexpensive renewable
energy and when put offshore, the space is unlimited. Offshore wind energy is more attractive than
onshore wind for four different reasons; potential for offshore wind farms is easily accessible from
populated coast lines, offshore wind farms may face fewer obstacles for planning than onshore wind
turbines, offshore wind resources have a higher quantity than onshore, and offshore wind turbines can be
larger than the turbines in onshore wind farms (Gernaat, 2014).
Overall, these offshore power plants compete for a share in investments on the basis of relative
levellised costs of electricity (LCOE). The LCOE changes over time due to technical development and
depletion effects. Electric Power Generation model shows how the market share of new technology
investment is determined by the relative LCOE of competing options (Gernaat, 2014). According to the
Energy Information Administration (EIA), offshore wind energy in the United States has a LCOE of
$243.2 MWH (Makridis, 2013).

Figure 2: Schematic presentation of the Electric Power Generation model, offshore wind energy
factors in bold. (Gernaat, 2014)
By the year 2020, the expected capacity values are expected to be around 40-45% at the European
level and most likely increase expected values globally as well. Globally, the increase of the wind
turbines efficiency, though the development of new technology, will reduce maintenance requirements
which in return will decrease maintenance costs. Through the development of advanced technology and
materials, the design of the wind turbines will be able to withstand the harsh sea conditions and will
prolong the need for repair or replacement (Kaldellis, 2012).
With the knowledge engineers currently have on offshore wind farms, cost projections are hard to
establish. Prices could increase depending on the materials used during installation and the cost of capital.
On the other hand, prices could either decrease or at least, pay off quickly through returns on investment.
If the technology is advanced at installation, then the turbines lifetime will be longer and enable a longer
stream of revenues for the owner. The economic viability of offshore wind depends primarily on the
ability to harness oceanic wind gusts, connect to the transmission system, and install and maintenance
turbines conveniently which are all are greatly affected by technological change.
Offshore wind energy has the potential to become one of the most efficient renewable resource to
date. Even though there are some fall backs, with time and research, these set backs could lead to more
efficient ways to install and operate the wind parks while also becoming more wildlife-friendly. In the
next 10-20 years, most countries want their energy needs to come from renewable resources entirely.
What percentage will come from offshore wind farms is still unknown as more countries are in the
planning stages of installing these offshore wind farms.
References

Langhamer, Olivia (2012). Artificial reef effect in relation to offshore renewable energy
conversion; state of the art. The Scientific World Journal, Volume 2012, 1-8.

Offshore Wind and Wildlife - National Wildlife Federation. (n.d.). Retrieved September 30, 2015,
from http://www.nwf.org/What-We-Do/Energy-and-Climate/Renewable-Energy/Offshore-

Wind/Offshore-Wind-Wildlife-Impacts.aspx
Gernaat, E.H.J. David, Vab Vuuren, Detlet P., Van Vilet, Jasper, Sullivan, Patrick, Arent, Douglas
J.,1 November 2014, Global long-term cost dynamics of offshore wind energy generation,

Energy, Volume 76, 663-672

Reubens T. Jan, Pasotti Francesca, Degraer Steven, Vincx Magda, September 2013, Residency,
site fidelity and habitat use of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) at an offshore wind farm using

acoustic telemetry, Marine Environmental Research, Volume 90, 128-135

Kaldellis J. K., Kapsali M., February 2013, Shifting towards offshore wind energy- Recent

activity and future development, Energy, Volume 53, 136-148

Makridis, Christos, November 2013, Offshore wind power resource availability and prospects: A

global approach, Environmental Science & Policy, Volume 33, 28-40

Kurt Thomsen (2014). Offshore wind: A comprehensive guide to successful offshore wind farm

installation. London, UK: Elsevier Inc.

Claire Haggett (2011). Understanding public responses to offshore power. Energy Policy, Volume

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Transportation Research Board of the National Academies (2011). Structural integrity of offshore

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Malte Busch, Andreas Kannena, Stefan Gartheb, Mark Jessoppc, (2013). Consequences of a
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Draget, Erlend, 2014, Environmental Impacts of Offshore Wind Power Production in the North
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