{"id":19212,"date":"2021-06-22T05:57:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-22T04:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abl-group.com\/abl\/?p=19212"},"modified":"2022-06-07T11:27:57","modified_gmt":"2022-06-07T10:27:57","slug":"reasons-to-consider-climate-change-in-offshore-wind-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abl-group.com\/abl\/all-media\/blog\/reasons-to-consider-climate-change-in-offshore-wind-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Reasons to consider climate change in offshore wind design"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Innosea’s<\/a> Chief Technical Officer, Bruno Borgarino discusses some of the reasons why now is the time to consider factoring in climate-resilience plans into offshore wind infrastructure design, construction and operations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Over the past 10 years since I began my career in offshore wind, I have continuously been amazed at the speed at which the industry grows and evolves. It continues to break records in terms of electricity generation<\/a>, in producing increasingly lower-cost electricity, and indeed, it has become one of the most meaningful contributors to a future net-zero economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In parallel to the hugely positive steps offshore wind has been taking, I have also been struck by the visible impacts of climate change, and the threat it poses to natural and human systems, including our renewable energy generation systems<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is natural to conceive that offshore wind farms may in some cases be vulnerable to climate change, when you consider their exposure to wind climate, wave climate, extreme events<\/a>, amongst other factors. If this is the case, the long-term wind farm business plan and its ability to generate the expected amount of clean energy may be impacted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Impacts of climate change are complex and non-uniform. They depend on location and on the magnitude of future greenhouse gas emissions. The complexity of the potential impact on offshore wind is ten-fold, as wind farms are exposed to the elements – wind, waves, sea level, temperature, ice, rain – all of which are influenced by climate change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, windfarms depend a lot on their supporting infrastructure (seaports, grid), which could also feel the effects of climate change. As a consequence, annual energy production, CAPEX and OPEX of an offshore wind farm may be affected by climate change – though these can only be assessed on a case-by-case basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst the risk profile posed to the sector is multi-faceted and not straightforward to assess, understanding and anticipating how climate change can impact a given wind farm may bring both short- and long-term benefits, unveiling possible new opportunities and influencing future decision-making in the next steps to take: <\/p>\n\n\n\n