The time has come for offshore wind power in the United States

Firestone, Jeremy; Archer, Cristina L.; Gardner, Meryl P.; Madsen, John A.; Prasad, Ajay K.; Veron, Dana E.

doi:10.1073/pnas.1515376112

Cited by 24 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The majority of direct OWED impacts to cetaceans are acoustic, not during operation but with pile driving during construction [16,17]. Both of these activities impart a large amount of acoustic energy that can kill or harm animals in the immediate vicinity [18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Minimizing wildlife impacts for offshore wind energy development: Winning tradeoffs for seabirds in space and cetaceans in time

Best

Halpin

2019

PLoS ONE

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Although offshore wind energy development (OWED) offers a much-needed renewable energy alternative to fossil fuels, holistic and effective methods for evaluating environmental impacts on wildlife in both space and time have been lacking. The lengthy environmental compliance process, estimated to incur a 7–10 year permitting timeline [ 1 ], has been identified as a significant impediment to offshore energy development in U.S. waters. During operation, seabirds can collide and be displaced by turbines. During episodic pre-operation phases, cetaceans are most heavily impacted acoustically by pile driving (and similarly seismic air gun surveys for oil and gas exploration). The varying nature of impacts in space and time leads us to conclude that sites should be selected in space to minimize long-term operational impacts on seabirds, and timing of surveying and construction activities to be conducted in times of the year when sensitive migratory marine mammals are least present. We developed a novel spatiotemporal decision support framework that interactively visualizes tradeoffs between OWED industry profits and wildlife sensitivities, in both space and time. The framework highlights sites on a map that are the most profitable and least sensitive to seabirds. Within the U.S. Mid-Atlantic study area, the New York Call Areas are particularly well optimized for minimal impact on seabirds with maximal profits to OWED. For a given site, pre-operational activities (e.g. pile driving and seismic air gun surveying) are advised by cetacean sensitivity across months of the year that minimize impacts on migratory cetaceans, particularly those of highest conservation concern such as the North Atlantic right whale ( Eubalaena Glacialis ). For instance, within optimal sites for the New York Call Area the least impacting months are May and June. Other taxa are certainly affected by OWED and should be incorporated into this framework, but data on their distributions and/or sensitivities is currently less well known. Built with open-source software made publicly available, the authors hope this framework will be extended even more comprehensively into the future as our knowledge on species distributions and OWED sensitivities expands for streamlining environmental compliance.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Minimizing wildlife impacts for offshore wind energy development: Winning tradeoffs for seabirds in space and cetaceans in time

Best

Halpin

2019

PLoS ONE

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“…In this framework wind-power production is one of the most rapidly evolving fields (e.g. Chen 2011; Higgins and Foley 2013;Firestone et al 2015). Nevertheless, wind is a variable subject to a strong variability at multiple time scales (Pryor et al 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of the near surface wind speed distribution at global scale: ERA-Interim reanalysis and ECMWF seasonal forecasting system 4

et al. 2018

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The present developments in 10 m wind seasonal forecast products have lead to a growth in the number of studies analysing different aspects of both its predictability and applicability. However, there is still a lack of global studies analysing the statistical properties of the probability distribution of 10 m wind speed comparing the seasonal forecast systems with the widely used reanalysis products. To fill this gap we have studied the properties of the probability distributions of 10 m wind speed from the ERA-Interim reanalysis and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts System 4 seasonal forecast system. We have focused on two seasons, JJA and DJF, considering both their interannual and intraseasonal variability. The 10 m wind speed distribution has been characterized in terms of the four main moments of the probability distribution (mean, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis). We have also computed the coefficient of variation to identify the regions with the higher wind variability and the Shapiro-Wilks goodness of fit test to assess their normality. This set of parameters is important to provide useful climate information in wind energy decision-making processes that use simple assumptions of the wind speed frequency distribution to properly estimate the wind energy potential. Besides, this study also illustrates where the discrepancies of the distributions of the seasonal predictions and the reference dataset are higher and, thus, which might need special attention from a bias adjustment perspective.

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“…This is particularly relevant in the mitigation of climate change, as efforts to avoid catastrophic consequences call for the implementation of lowcarbon innovations [9]. Offshore wind energy in floating platforms is a new technology that promises to unlock a huge resource potential in deepwaters, i.e., water depths of 50 meters or higher [10][11]. Floating offshore wind is more than a simple extension of the offshore wind industry, constituting a new technology on its own right.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It develops under a different environment that is marked by a specific sectoral, technological, geographical and political context. The technology presents a high potential to reduce emissions in the electricity sector, but currently deals with a number of technological and institutional challenges that prevent its market take-off [10,[12][13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emergence of floating offshore wind energy: Technology and industry

Bento

Fontes

2019

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

107

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The paper investigates the construction of strategies aiming to up-scale low-carbon innovations from pilot to full commercial scale. This requires a systemic understanding of the evolution of the technology along with the organizations and infrastructures supporting its development. Technological innovation systems concepts operationalize system building processes, including the establishment of constituent elements and the performance of key innovation activities. The study surveys the national roadmaps published between 2009 and 2014 for offshore wind energy in deepwaters (more than 50 meters deep) which inform on how actors expect the system to grow, including the innovation activities crucial to achieve it. The roadmaps point to the role of guidance and legitimacy as triggers of changes in other innovation processes (knowledge creation, experimentation and so on) needed for takeoff. The analysis reveals that the growth plans conveyed in the roadmaps are overly optimistic when compared with the time taken to develop offshore wind energy in fixed structures for shallow waters. Several countries have adopted supporting policies following the publication of the roadmaps, but weaknesses in crucial innovation processes (e.g. specialized skills) and external factors (e.g. crisis, regulatory approval) resulted in a delay of the first large investments. Policy should be based on realistic expectations and adequate to the phase of innovation, such as the promotion of technology-specific institutions (standards, codes, regulations and so on) in technology up-scaling. New directions for research are also provided.

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The time has come for offshore wind power in the United States

Cited by 24 publications

References 22 publications

Minimizing wildlife impacts for offshore wind energy development: Winning tradeoffs for seabirds in space and cetaceans in time

Minimizing wildlife impacts for offshore wind energy development: Winning tradeoffs for seabirds in space and cetaceans in time

Characterization of the near surface wind speed distribution at global scale: ERA-Interim reanalysis and ECMWF seasonal forecasting system 4

Emergence of floating offshore wind energy: Technology and industry

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