If a ship collides with an offshore wind turbine installation, the consequences have economic, safety, and environmental ramifications. Authorities usually require analysis of related risks and identification of necessary risk reduction measures.
Why perform a ship collision analysis?
Before granting a wind farm concession, most authorities require an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). A ship collision risk analysis is part of such an EIA.
Placing wind farms at sea close to busy shipping lanes are inherently risky. It is crucial that these risks are identified and mitigated to prevent serious accidents and their subsequent impacts.
A collision between a ship and a wind turbine could result in production loss from a single turbine or the entire wind farm if the transformer module is damaged. In serious cases, a collision may result in loss of life and oil spills.
As only a limited number of offshore wind farms have been built so far, there are no international published rules for ship navigation close to the installations. However, offshore wind farms can be treated as offshore platforms with respect to surrounding ship traffic.
The ship collision risk analysis provides answers to the following questions:
- What accidents could potentially take place
- What are the consequences if any of these scenarios occur
- What is the likelihood that these accidents will happen, and
- What are the cost-efficient or necessary reduction measures that should be implemented.