Offshore Wind Turbine Parks endanger Maritime Life & Shipping Safety

Wind turbine farms are deliberately positioned off major shipping routes but this is bound to raise concerns in an industry that is ramping up installations around the globe, while most accidents are censored by the mainstream media.

One could say that the larger the wind farms grow, the less space is left for navigation, the director of the Federal Bureau of Maritime Casualty Investigation in Germany told Maritime Journal.

Furthermore, the traffic of offshore supply vessels will increase as well. More traffic and less space may lead to a greater risk. Time will tell.

Dutch maritime research institute MARIN tested three innovative barriers aimed at averting collisions between ships and wind turbines. The research was prompted by the incident involving the Julietta D on 31 January, 2022

This drifting bulk carrier initially collided with a tanker before hitting a transformer platform and a turbine foundation for the Hollandse Kust Zuid windfarm currently under construction.

A collision with an installed wind turbine carries a real risk of the turbine toppling onto the vessel, seriously endangering crew, passengers, the ship itself and the environment.

Some 2500 wind turbines are set to be installed on the North Sea in the period to 2030, taking the risk of a turbine being hit by a ship to around 1.5 to 2.5 times a year, research1 by the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN) for the Dutch government shows.

To give an idea: vessels going adrift on the North Sea number around eighty each year.

Accidents can be avoided in various ways: drifting vessels can put down their anchors, for example. But this requires active intervention by the ship’s crew in often difficult circumstances.

Alternatively, emergency towing vessels (ETV’s) can be deployed to tow the drifting ship to safety, while shipping supervision can be upgraded to include some form of vessel traffic management2.

The accident involving the Julietta D shows the real dangers posed by vessels adrift, says MARIN’s Traffic & Safety team leader Yvonne Koldenhof. Even with current resources such as ETV’s, it’s difficult to avoid these kinds of incidents.

The first concept involves a string of surface buoys secured by drag anchors. The second concept comprises a smart suspension net between fixed poles and the third is an anchored underwater hook line designed to catch the anchor of the drifting vessel.

The various concepts and all test results are being shared as an open innovation project to enable further development of the most promising concepts. The initiative has also sparked widespread international interest.

Representatives of the following Dutch maritime and offshore organizations were involved in this project: Heerema Marine Contractors, Boskalis, GustoMSC, Pinkster Marine Hydrodynamics, Huisman Equipment, Orca Offshore en SBM Offshore.

Maritime Professionals / ABC Flash Point News 2024.