Floating Offshore Wind

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

Affiliated Marine and Wind Energy Environmental Documents

Total results: 577
Title Author Date Content Type Technology Stressor Receptor
PivotBuoy An Advanced System for Cost-effective and Reliable Mooring, Connection, Installation & Operation of Floating Wind D4.1: Test site environmental conditions Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (PLOCAN) Report Wind Energy, Floating Offshore Wind Noise Physical Environment, Water Quality
Keeping the Noise Down: Approaches to the Mitigation and Regulation of Human-Caused Ocean Noise Weilgart, L. Book Chapter Marine Energy, Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Noise
Digital Aerial Baseline Survey of Marine Wildlife in Support of Offshore Wind Energy Summer 2018 Target Extraction Summary Report Normandeau Associates Inc Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind
Digital Aerial Baseline Survey of Marine Wildlife in Support of Offshore Wind Energy Summer 2018 Taxonomic Analysis Summary Report Normandeau Associates Inc Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind
Tracking Offshore Occurrence of Common Terns, Endangered Roseate Terns, and Threatened Piping Plovers with VHF Arrays Loring, P., Paton, P., McLaren, J. Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Collision, Displacement Birds, Seabirds, Shorebirds
Floating Offshore Wind Energy Technology: Innovation to Commercialization Northeastern University Conference Paper Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Attraction, Avoidance, Collision Bats, Birds
Pile Driving Noise Reduction Approaches Wochner, M. Journal Article Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Noise Marine Mammals, Reptiles
Life-cycle green-house gas emissions of onshore and offshore wind turbines Wang, S., Jinxiang, L. Journal Article Wind Energy, Land-Based Wind, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Human Dimensions, Life Cycle Assessment
Ornithological and Marine Fauna Aerial Survey Results Equinor Wind US, LLC Annex I: Summer 2016 – Spring 2017 Jervis, L. Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Birds, Fish, Marine Mammals, Reptiles, Sea Turtles
Assessment of the geographical potential for co-use of marine space, based on operational boundaries for Blue Growth sectors van den Burg, S., Aguilar-Manjarrez, J., Jenness, J. Journal Article Marine Energy, Tidal, Wave, Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Human Dimensions, Marine Spatial Planning
Digital Aerial Baseline Survey of Marine Wildlife in Support of Offshore Wind Energy Summary of Winter 2018-2019 Digital Survey #11 Normandeau Associates Inc Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Marine Mammals
Comments on the Call for Information and Nominations for Commercial Leasing for Wind Power Development on the Outer Continental Shelf Offshore California Aylesworth, S., Krop, L., George, G. Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Birds, Ecosystem Processes, Fish, Marine Mammals, Reptiles
Wildlife and Wind Farms - Conflicts and Solutions, Volume 3. Offshore: Potential Effects Perrow, M. Book Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Bats, Birds, Fish, Invertebrates, Marine Mammals, Physical Environment
Life Cycle Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Floating Offshore Wind Energy in California Bang, J., Ma, C., Tarantino, E. Report Wind Energy, Floating Offshore Wind Human Dimensions, Life Cycle Assessment
Noise affects porpoise click detections – the magnitude of the effect depends on logger type and detection filter settings Clausen, K., Tougaard, J., Carstensen, J. Journal Article Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Avoidance, Displacement, Noise Marine Mammals
Site selection process for floating offshore wind farms in Madeira Islands Díaz, H., Fonseca, R., Soares, C. Book Chapter Wind Energy, Floating Offshore Wind Human Dimensions, Marine Spatial Planning
Site selection for floating offshore wind turbines in Japanese coasts by quantitative risk assessment Shiokari, M., Tabeta, S., Ishida, S. Journal Article Wind Energy, Floating Offshore Wind Habitat Change Fish, Human Dimensions, Marine Spatial Planning, Navigation
Digital Aerial Baseline Survey of Marine Wildlife in Support of Offshore Wind Energy Summary of Fall 2018 Digital Survey #10 Normandeau Associates Inc Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind
Ornithological and Marine Fauna Aerial Survey of Lease Area OCSA 0512 Monthly Report: August 2018 Jervis, L., Warford, S., Dominguez Alvarez, N. Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Marine Mammals, Reptiles, Sea Turtles
Ornithological and Marine Fauna Aerial Survey of Lease Area OCSA 0512 Monthly Report: September 2018 Jervis, L., Warford, S., Arundale, M. Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Marine Mammals, Reptiles, Sea Turtles
Power transmission: Where the offshore wind energy comes home Firestone, J., Bates, A., Prefer, A. Journal Article Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Human Dimensions, Social & Economic Data
Assessment of system effects of large-scale implementation of offshore wind in the southern North Sea Boon, A., Caires, S., Wijnant, I. Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Changes in Flow, Habitat Change Physical Environment
Humpback Whales and Floating Offshore Wind Farm Animation Grear, M., Copping, A., Sanders, G. Video Wind Energy, Floating Offshore Wind Entanglement Marine Mammals, Cetaceans
Management Objectives and Research Priorities for Fisheries in the Massachusetts and Rhode Island-Massachusetts offshore Wind Energy Area Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Fish, Invertebrates
Ornithological and Marine Fauna Aerial Survey Results of Lease Area OCS-A 0512 Equinor Quarterly Report: May 2018 to July 2018 Jervis, L., Warford, S., Willmott, J. Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind
Emissions from corrosion protection systems of offshore wind farms: Evaluation of the potential impact on the marine environment Kirchgeorg, T., Weinberg, I., Hörnig, M. Journal Article Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Chemicals
Digital Aerial Baseline Survey of Marine Wildlife in Support of Offshore Wind Energy Spring 2018 Taxonomic Analysis Summary Report Normandeau Associates Inc Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind
Determining Habitat Use by Marine Mammals and Ambient Noise Levels Using Passive Acoustic Monitoring Offshore of Maryland Bailey, H., Rice, A., Wingfield, J. Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Noise Marine Mammals
Ocean Literacy for Workforce Development in the Shipbuilding and Offshore Renewable Energy Sectors in Europe, in Support of the Blue Economy: The MATES Project Papathanasiou, M., Tuddenham, P., Bishop, K. Conference Paper Marine Energy, Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Human Dimensions, Legal & Policy, Social & Economic Data
Midterm Evaluation WOZEP 2018 Mulder, S., van Mastrigt, A. Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Avoidance, Collision, Displacement, EMF, Habitat Change, Noise Bats, Birds, Fish, Marine Mammals, Human Dimensions, Environmental Impact Assessment
Ornithological and Marine Fauna Aerial Survey of Lease Area OCSA 0512 Monthly Report: June 2018 Jervis, L., Warford, S., Wilmott, J. Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Marine Mammals, Reptiles, Sea Turtles
Digital Aerial Baseline Survey of Marine Wildlife in Support of Offshore Wind Energy Spring 2018 Target Extraction Summary Report Normandeau Associates Inc Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind
Floating offshore wind - Economic and ecological challenges of a TLP solution Kausche, M., Adam, F., Dahlhaus, F. Journal Article Wind Energy, Floating Offshore Wind Human Dimensions, Social & Economic Data
Humpback Whale Encounter with Offshore Wind Mooring Lines and Inter-Array Cables Copping, A., Grear, M. Report Wind Energy, Floating Offshore Wind Entanglement Marine Mammals, Cetaceans
Ornithological and Marine Fauna Aerial Survey of Lease Area OCSA 0512 Monthly Report: July 2018 Jervis, L., Warford, S., Wilmott, J. Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Marine Mammals, Reptiles, Sea Turtles
Research and Data Needs Pacific Fishery Management Council Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Fish, Human Dimensions, Fisheries, Stakeholder Engagement
Atlantic Deepwater Ecosystem Observatory Network (ADEON): An Integrated System for Long-Term Monitoring of Ecological and Human Factors on the Outer Continental Shelf Miksis-Olds, J., Martin, B., Warren, J. Report Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Displacement, Habitat Change Ecosystem Processes, Fish, Marine Mammals, Human Dimensions, Fisheries
Understanding Marine Mammal Presence in the Virginia Offshore Wind Energy Area Salisbury, D., Estabrook, B., Klinck, H. Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Noise Marine Mammals
Cumulative Adverse Effects of Offshore Wind Energy Development on Wildlife [Thesis] Goodale, M. Thesis Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Habitat Change Birds, Seabirds
Ornithological and Marine Fauna Aerial Survey of Lease Area OCSA 0512 Monthly Report: May 2018 Jervis, L., Warford, S., Wilmott, J. Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Marine Mammals, Reptiles, Sea Turtles
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