
Highlights
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The state of the art of the offshore wind power technology is demonstrated.
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The environmental impacts of offshore wind energy projects are investigated in comparison with the onshore counterparts.
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The public concern is also discussed in view of further development of offshore wind parks.
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The mitigation of the offshore wind development impacts is analyzed.
Abstract
Offshore wind power comprises a relatively new challenge for the international wind industry with a demonstration history of around twenty years and a ten-year commercial history for large, utility-scale projects. By comparison to other forms of electric power generation, offshore wind energy is generally considered to have relatively benign effects on the marine environment. However, offshore projects include platforms, turbines, cables, substations, grids, interconnection and shipping, dredging and associated construction activity. The Operation & Maintenance (O&M) activities include the transport of employees by vessel or helicopter and occasional hardware retrofits. Therefore, various impacts are incurred in the construction, operation and decommissioning phases; mainly the underwater noise and the impacts on the fauna. Based on the fact that in many of the aforementioned issues there are still serious environmental uncertainties, contradictive views and emerging research, the present work intents to provide a thorough literature review on the environmental and social impacts of offshore wind energy projects in comparison with the onshore counterparts.
Keywords
- Offshore wind installations;
- Environmental impacts;
- Life cycle impacts;
- Visual impact;
- Bird fatalities;
- Noise impact
Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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