Balancing offshore wind farms and the safety of shipping

The energy transition increases demand for alternative energy solutions and some of these include using space in
the North Sea for developing offshore wind farms. However, a consequence of developing these wind farms is the
impact on maritime safety. As the density of traffic in the North Sea is one of the highest on the planet, the balance
between safety and the new offshore wind farms is a significant challenge.

MARIN has performed several Formal Safety Assessments (FSA) to investigate the impact of future wind farms. A recent FSA focused on the effect of using predefined passages to sail through wind farm areas, rather than free passages.