Risk of collision between service vessels and offshore wind turbines

Abstract

Offshore wind farms are growing in size and are situated farther and farther away from shore. The demand for service visits to transfer personnel and equipment to the wind turbines is increasing, and safe operation of the vessels is essential. Currently, collisions between service vessels and offshore wind turbines are paid little attention to in the offshore wind energy industry. This paper proposes a risk assessment framework for such collisions and investigates the magnitude of the collision risk and important risk-influencing factors. The paper concludes that collisions between turbines and service vessels even at low speed may cause structural damage to the turbines. There is a need for improved consideration of this kind of collision risk when designing offshore wind turbines and wind farms.