Wet storage at construction ports for floating offshore wind turbines

Many coastal governments have ambitious targets to increase electricity generation from renewable energy in order to achieve Net Zero by 2050. To meet these targets, the requirement for new wind farms in deeper waters has led to increasing interest in the opportunities of floating offshore wind turbines (FOWT). Future commercial-scale projects with a high generation capacity will result in significant impacts on port requirements and their associated wet storage expectations. The management of wet storage sites for floating offshore wind introduces new areas in coastal waters where turbines might be temporarily moored during construction or maintenance. These wet storage sites directly impacted inshore vessel traffic, ship anchorages, port approaches, and coastal aerodromes. The use of wet storage imposes new potential changes on the maritime industry, with regard to navigation of shipping, inshore fishing, and recreational boating. Wet storage (which is principally a concept that is useful for construction logistics), involves the temporary storage of either partially or fully constructed floating offshore wind turbines in port or coastal waters. Temporary mooring methods need to be developed for different types of floating wind. It is expected that many substructures may be wet stored simultaneously during the construction of a commercial-scale project. Given that wet storage sites are likely to be essential to construction strategies for commercial-scale Floating Wind Farms, their potential impacts could be significant. However, this assessment of wet storage is constrained by the uncertainties as to where such sites would be located.<p></p>