Introduction to Offshore Renewables

John James Sturman

Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology, London, UK

2 OFFSHORE WIND ENERGY

1 Introduction 1
2 Offshore Wind Energy 1 Offshore wind energy exploitation is the most mature
3 Wave Energy 5 and widely deployed energy generation technology, with
4 Tidal Energy 5 the first project installed off the coast of Denmark in
1991, with thousands of offshore wind turbines now in
5 Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) 6
operation in shallow waters around the world. This rapid
6 Energy Islands 6 growth was possible because the industry adopted already
7 The Future 7 well-developed and proven onshore wind technology, which
Glossary 7 was then marinized for the offshore environment. The
technology is based on horizontal axis three-bladed wind
turbine generators with commercial scale offshore vertical
axis wind turbines currently being tested. Newer turbine
1 INTRODUCTION and foundation technologies are being developed so that
wind power projects can be built in deeper waters further
Global offshore renewable energy has mostly been developed offshore.
as a method to help combat anthropogenic global warming. Wind turbines made specifically for the offshore market,
Offshore renewable energy is currently more expensive to which have become significantly larger than those for
produce than onshore; however, it affords particular advan- onshore developments, continue to be developed. This
tages, which has led to exponential growth. is driven by two main factors: (i) fewer constraints, for
example, noise limits do not apply—allowing larger blades
There is an extremely large resource, space to develop large
with faster tip speeds, and visual impact on the surroundings
centers of generation, and relatively easy grid connection
tends not to be an issue, hence no limit on turbine tip heights
delivery to population/industrial centers (the majority of the
and (ii) offshore wind turbine foundations are a large cost
world’s population lives within 60 km of the coast). item, and larger turbines, with higher individual capacities,
Currently, offshore energy extraction methods utilize four reduce the number of foundations required for a given wind
main energy sources: wind, wave, tidal stream, and ocean farm capacity.
thermal energy conversion (OTEC). A variety of technolo- In addition to the growth in size, modern offshore turbines
gies have, and continue to be, developed. now have substantial technical modifications and system
upgrades, compared to onshore turbines, for adaptation
to the marine environment. These modifications include
specially constructed towers to cope with hydrodynamic
Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering, online © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
loading forces and pressurizing nacelles to keep corro-
This article is © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. sive sea spray from damaging electrical components.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe097
Also published in the Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering (print edition)
Offshore turbines are typically equipped with extensive
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 corrosion protection, internal climate control systems, and
2 Offshore

high grade exterior paint. To minimize offshore main- 2.1 Steel Monopile Foundations
tenance, offshore turbines may have automatic greasing
systems for bearing lubrication and heating and cooling This is the most common foundation utilized due to its ease
systems to maintain gear oil temperature within a specified of construction, transport, and installation, and it represents
range. They also require navigation and aviation warning the lowest cost solution.
lights. As offshore wind deployment is very construction cost
The first offshore wind farm, Vindeby, consists of sensitive, the monopile solution has driven the location of
11 MW × 0.45 MW wind turbines, in 2–4 m of water, the majority of existing wind farm developments, that is,
1.8 km from shore. Projects now under development consist monopiles can only be technically utilized in water depths
of 300–400 MW × 8 MW turbines in water depths in the less than c. 35 m.
region of 50 m, greater than 100 km from shore. The monopile is a large diameter hollow steel tube (rolled
In addition to being the most mature technology, wind from a flat steel sheet and then seam welded) with one
energy technology provides the lowest cost of electricity of end hammered (pile driven) up to 40 m into the seabed.
the four main offshore energy sources. Monopiles are typically in the region of 4 m diameter,
While constructing and maintaining offshore wind farms is 50–60 m long, and weigh around 500 t (at deeper sites, this
more expensive than onshore wind farms, they have certain can be greater than 800 t and 70 m long). They represent
advantages: the lighter of the foundation structure options. The trend is
toward larger diameters to enable wind farm developments
to use larger wind turbines in deeper water, with 10 m diam-
1. offshore wind is stronger and more consistent than eter piles being considered. The monopile shape lends itself
onshore with less turbulence and a very large resource, to simple calculations, straightforward fabrication, and tight
greater space availability (allowing large numbers of packing on transport vessels.
turbines in single developments). The energy produced Typically, a jack-up vessel platform is used to drive
from wind is directly proportional to the cube of the wind monopiles into the seabed, but pile drivers mounted on
speed. As a result, increased wind speeds from offshore barges are also common.
wind farms of only a few meters per second can produce A tapered, hollow transition piece is placed over the surface
a significantly larger amount of electricity, penetrating end of the monopile, and the turbine tower is
2. cheaper and easier grid connection via subsea cables then slotted into the top of the transition piece. To prevent
(with cost offsets possible via interconnectors and “boot the transition piece from moving, the gap between it and the
straps” for onshore national grid infrastructure), monopile is filled with grout (fast curing and high strength
3. the possibility of larger turbines with higher tip speeds cement) by injection. The transition piece is also a tube with
(no/lower noise or visual impact restrictions), and a slightly larger diameter than the monopile allowing it to be
4. economic benefits for port and associated offshore mounted over the monopile. On top of the transition piece, a
industries. flange secures connection with the wind turbine tower using
nuts and bolts. The transition piece typically weighs between
145 and 252 t and is around 25 m high. The transition piece
The main restriction to offshore wind farm deployment is is necessary because the piling method required to install the
water depth, due to the high relative cost of wind turbine monopile into the sea bed, often results in the monopile not
foundations for deep water. Under existing financial support presenting truly vertical once hammering is complete and
mechanisms, current market conditions, and existing tech- there are variations in the piled depth achieved across a wind
nology, the financially viable limit for developments is in the farm. The transition piece has the main functions of adding
region of 50 m. a perfect flange to the top of the monoplie (leveling the
Due to the need to bring down the cost of the elec- transition to the tower and allowing a true horizontal platform
tricity generated, in order for offshore wind to compete with for the wind turbine to connect to), enabling a correct and
other forms of onshore electricity generation, foundations universal wind turbine base height to be achieved across the
require novel technology solutions over and above tech- wind farm, and providing a structure to which the rest of the
nologies developed for other offshore industries such as oil required equipment (boat landing, access ladders, J-tubes,
and gas. Examples include extra-large diameter monopiles crane, and a working platform for the turbine maintenance
(i.e., 8 m) and twisted jackets. Wind turbine foundation tech- crew) can be bolted.
nology is based on four general solution categories: steel However, the transition piece represents the main weakness
monopiles, steel jackets, suction bucket, and concrete gravity of the monopile concept. As the transition piece is connected
bases. to the monopile using grout, to form a solid connection and

Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering, online © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article is © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe097
Also published in the Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering (print edition) ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2
 Introduction to Offshore Renewables 3

to transfer all loads and forces from the wind turbine tower 2.2 Steel jacket foundations
through the transition piece down to the support structure,
as the tower rocks and vibrates over the years due to the Steel jackets have been used as an offshore foundation struc-
dynamic loads from wind and waves, the grouting crumbles. ture for decades—forming the base of the majority of the
In many cases, refilling with new grout is needed, adding world’s offshore oil and gas rigs. As they are based on a steel
significant cost in addition to lost revenue from wind turbine tube lattice, using smaller tubes, they are subject to much
down time. New transition piece attachment methods have lower hydrodynamic loads than monopiles.
been developed that include vertical and horizontal shear At water depths greater than 30 m, steel jackets are the
keys and conical or bolted connections. dominant offshore wind turbine foundation. They are a
Hammering of monopiles into the seabed with hydraulic proven technology and very strong.
hammers is extremely noisy. This has led to concerns Steel jackets can take a number of forms with various
about direct health impacts on fish and marine mammals footing options, but those deployed so far have been
in the surrounding area and the impacts of the noise four-sided, A-shaped, truss-like lattice structures of low
excluding these animals from the construction area for diameter steel tubes, resting on piles, and typically weighing
long periods—construction of a large wind farm can take around 500–600 t.
2 years, in addition to consecutive construction activities of Steel jackets require multiple welded joints at specific
other nearby wind farms. Installation restrictions are placed angles, making them time-consuming and costly to build
on offshore wind farm construction activities in order to and coat with anticorrosion treatments. Offshore wind farm
mitigate these impacts and piling noise impacts on marine sites have uneven seabed conditions and differing depths
life is an active area of research. across the site, demanding custom-made jackets for each
The only way to avoid the use of a transition piece is to drill individual turbine location. In addition, jackets cannot be
the monopile into the soil. Though rarely used, because of the easily stacked for transport. This makes steel jackets more
high cost associated with it, drilling is the method of choice expensive than monopiles, making deeper water offshore
in cases where hammering the monopile is not an option due wind farm sites less economic than shallow sites. However,
to hard rock in the soil, for example, Bockstigen wind farm as most of the available suitable shallow water sites are
in Gotland, Sweden. developed, deeper sites are being looked at, alongside ways
Another solution that is likely to render the use of the to reduce construction and installation costs. As a typical
transition piece obsolete is the Concrete Monopile. Still deeper water wind farm has upward of 200 turbines, one
at the prototype stage, the concrete monopile with a core way to reduce cost is to simplify the jacket structure and
prestressed reinforced concrete core is cheaper to produce standardize fabrication with water depth adjustments made
but at the same time more costly to install because it involves at a later stage.
drilling of the seabed. However, this allows for construc- Designs such as those used at Ormonde offshore wind farm
tion without the transition piece, which in turn may end up in the United Kingdom and Thornton Bank in Belgium are
making it more affordable. the first high volume deployments of a standardized steel
jacket.
Once the monopile is driven into the seabed and the tran-
Another approach is a twisted jacket. This consists of
sition piece installed on top, the wind turbine tower is then
three main legs, each having a twist along its length. With
bolted onto the transition piece. Finally, the wind turbine
fewer welds and less steel than traditional lattice designs, this
generator is installed on top of the turbine tower, with the
three-legged variant is easier to fabricate and more units can
blades then added. Variations on this basic methodology
be packed onto an installation vessel.
include construction of the wind turbine generator and blades
Techniques such as prepiling also help to bring down jacket
onshore, which is then transported to site and installed onto
installation costs. This involves preinstalling piles through a
the turbine tower as a single piece.
reusable template; the jacket is then dropped onto the piles
Monopiles are subject to high hydrodynamic loads, and
and grouted into position. Using this method, piling on the
as water depths and the size of wind turbines increase, the
Ormonde offshore wind farm took a few hours compared
diameter and wall thickness (c. 95 mm) of pile required to
with 3–4 days using traditional methods on other sites.
resist the increased operational forces and pile driving buck-
ling loads becomes much larger, pushing the technical limits
of fabrication, transport, and installation and significantly 2.3 Gravity Base Foundations
increasing cost.
Beyond water depths around 35 m, other foundation struc- Gravity base foundations consist of a concrete tower filled
tures are required. with ballast such as iron ore, sand, or rock. The towers are

Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering, online © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article is © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe097
Also published in the Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering (print edition) ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2
4 Offshore

sometimes constructed with a steel or concrete skirt, with 2.6 Installation

adjustments in the designed base width to suit the sites soil
conditions. The subsea concrete tower has a central steel Dedicated installation vessels have been built to under-
or concrete shaft that acts as a transition piece to the wind take both foundation and wind turbine installation. Most
turbine tower. These foundations require flat seabed site are jack-up vessels and are based in the largest global
conditions and often significant amounts of scour protec- market—the European continental shelf, with activity
tion around the base (this often takes the form of rock focused in the North, Irish, and Baltic Seas.
dumping).
An advantage of gravity base foundations is that they can
be designed to float to the site using only tugs for transport. 2.7 Environmental Considerations
However, the structures are large and in order to keep costs
low, mass production is required at ports. Both these factors Several environmental impacts are of concern to offshore
require a very large amount of port space. wind farm development, most of which are within a back-
Gravity base foundations have not been used extensively ground of poor scientific baseline knowledge. Of greatest
because of the environmental impact of their footprint on significance are knowledge gaps around an adequate under-
the seabed and cost (they are also not suitable for deep standing of the impacts of wind farm construction and
water). operation on individual organisms as well as what offshore
ecology is actually present, particularly in relation to popu-
2.4 Power Transmission lation numbers. This has led to a “deploy-and-monitor”
approach, whereby potential environmental impacts are
In order to transfer the power to the onshore electricity grid monitored both during and post construction. This generally
network, subsea power cables are used. These are typically takes the form of license conditions set on the developers, by
buried in the seabed and have suitable armor coverings where the offshore regulators, as part of the development permit.
necessary. Wind turbines generate electricity in the form of Of note, particular emphasis is given to the impact of
low voltage alternating current (AC). In order to reduce elec- underwater noise on marine mammals from foundation
trical losses from transmitting the power long distances, the piling operations during construction. For monopiles, high
electricity voltage is stepped up through the use of a trans- hammer energies are required to drive the large piles into
former. This requires an offshore transformer to be installed the seabed. This results in underwater noise creation, which
at the offshore wind farm site. The transformer platform travels many kilometers away from the pile in all direc-
also acts as an electrical collection point (Collector) for the tions. For a large wind farm, piling operations can take
wind turbines, prior to transmission to shore. All the wind place over many months. This has the potential to not only
turbine array cables are connected to the collector platform. damage marine mammal hearing but also discourage marine
For very distant offshore wind farms, the losses from trans- mammals from entering large areas of sea, having an impact
mitting AC long distances become significant; therefore, the on their feeding, reproduction, and migration behavior. This
electrical current is also converted to high voltage direct can be compounded by the cumulative impact of concurrent
current (HVDC) at an offshore converter platform close to or consecutive wind farm construction, where separate
the wind farm site. This current is then converted back to AC developments take place in the same vicinity.
onshore, prior to connecting to the onshore transmission grid Another concern of note is the impact on seabirds. The
network. main impacts are generally considered to be assessing the
risk of post construction collision with the turbine blades and
2.5 Maintenance the potential for the wind farm to discourage seabirds from
entering wind farm areas, in effect excluding them from
For the earlier offshore wind developments, annual turbine potential feeding areas and altering migration routes. Again,
servicing has been possible from shore-based personnel there is concern over the potential cumulative impact of the
being transported daily to site via workboats. However, due existence of several large wind farms within the same region.
to vessel transport time, distant from shore wind farms
currently under development, will require dedicated accom- 2.8 Latest Developments
modation platforms or accommodation vessels at the wind
farm site. Helicopters are also being considered, where the 2.8.1 Floating turbines
maintenance crew are lowered onto the top of the wind
turbine nacelle or constructing wind turbine nacelles that Floating wind turbine systems are gaining a lot of interest
have helicopter landing pads. in order to allow developments in coastal areas without

Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering, online © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article is © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe097
Also published in the Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering (print edition) ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2
 Introduction to Offshore Renewables 5

extensive shallow water continental shelves and the deeper not achieved commercial viability and a robust technology
waters of continental shelves, where the shallow water sites solution (wave energy converter) that can survive many years
are already developed. Most floating turbine solutions are of operation is yet to emerge.
designed for water depths greater than 50 m. The main challenges are survivability during storm events
Two main technology solutions are being developed: and the capital cost of the wave energy converters—making
tension leg mooring and semisubmersible ballast. The the electricity expensive.
main challenges are finding solutions that both keep costs Many wave energy conversion devices are under devel-
low while also ensuring survivability during the extreme opment with differing solutions. There has not yet been a
hydrodynamic and wind loadings of storm events as well technology convergence to type, as has happened in the
as providing a stable base for wind turbine operation (the wind industry, and devices are at a technology proving stage,
turbine blades have very little margin for deviation from the with the first precommercial arrays of several devices under
horizontal plane before damage to the blade hub bearings development.
takes place, so the turbine tower must always operate in Three general categories of wave energy converters
vertical or near vertical alignment). are being developed based on different “power off-take”
systems: hydraulic systems, air pressure systems, and hydro
2.8.2 Suction bucket (Caisson) foundations turbines.
For hydraulic systems, wave motion is converted to either
Suction bucket foundations have been used in the offshore electricity or water pressure through the use of a hydraulic
oil and gas industry for the past few decades. They are now system within the wave energy converter. In the case of a high
being developed for the offshore wind industry. They can be pressure water device, the pressurized water is transferred
used in deep water, are quicker to install than piles, and easier to shore via a pipe and electricity and/or fresh water is then
to remove during decommissioning. created onshore.
A suction bucket foundation is an upturned very large Air pressure systems (oscillating water column devices)
diameter steel bucket driven into the seabed by creating divert wave energy into a confined air space chamber. The
negative pressure inside the bucket—hence the bucket being wave water, upon entering the air chamber, then creates high
“sucked” into the seabed. This is achieved by pumping pressure air, which is then used to drive an air turbine at the
seawater out from the inside of the upturned bucket after it end of the air chamber. These devices can be located onshore
has been placed on the seabed. Once installed to the required at the coast or floating offshore.
depth, the suction is halted and the bucket (caisson) then acts Hydro turbine systems (overtopping devices) use the water
as a short very large diameter rigid pile. This technology in waves to fill a reservoir and create a head of water.
has been adapted to the offshore wind industry through This water is then released back into the surrounding sea
the attachment of a standard single large diameter tube to the through low head hydro-driven turbines. Devices can be
upper surface of a single large bucket or a steel jacket to the either onshore at the coast or floating offshore.
upper surface of 3/4 smaller buckets, creating an all in one Examples of devices under development include “hinge”
substructure and foundation. devices that are located close to shore and fixed to the seabed
This foundation works well in seabeds made up of soft in shallow water, whereby the hinge moves back and forth as
clays, sands, or other low strength sediments and can be waves pass over it. This movement then creates high pressure
removed by creating high pressure inside the bucket. water via a hydraulic system.
If the technology adaptations for the offshore wind industry Other types of hydraulic systems include segmented
prove successful, it could reduce foundation costs in the hinged floating tubes (surface attenuator) that flex against
region of 20%, enable deeper water sites to be commer- each other in line with the direction of the waves and
cially feasible for development, and significantly reduce the submerged or floating buoys (point absorbers) that move
potential environmental impacts of extensive piling opera- vertically as waves pass.
tions where monopiles would otherwise have been used.

4 TIDAL ENERGY
3 WAVE ENERGY
The utilization of tidal energy has a distinct advantage over
The utilization of wave energy is attractive because the other high output offshore renewable sources in that the
potential resource is extremely large, geographically exten- amount and timing of electricity production is predictable.
sive, and close to the coast. Exploitation, for electricity This enables a reduced output of conventional onshore
production, has been attempted for several decades, but it has generation to be planned, that is, reducing output from

Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering, online © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article is © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe097
Also published in the Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering (print edition) ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2
6 Offshore

nuclear, hydro, and/or fossil fuel power stations. However, Utilization of tidal stream energy faces similar challenges
the exploitable resource is much less than other offshore to wave energy in terms of survivability during extreme storm
renewable energy sources and is limited to a few suit- events and the high capital cost of the devices, again, making
able geographic locations that have either suitably high the electricity expensive.
tidal ranges or tidal stream velocities. These sites are typi-
cally land constrictions such as inlets (e.g., estuaries) and
straits (e.g., islands close to the coast), where tidal flow is 5 OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY
channeled. That said, the size of the available resource is CONVERSION (OTEC)
significant.
There are four main ways tidal energy can be exploited. This technology makes use of the temperature difference
These are tidal barrage, tidal lagoon, dynamic tidal power, between surface water and deep ocean water to run a heat
and tidal stream generators. engine. Globally, there is a potentially very large resource
that is also predictable and therefore good for baseload
4.1 Tidal barrage electricity generation but, due to the very high capital
cost of the generator, is geographically limited to areas
This is effectively a dam across the full width of an estuary. with a very narrow continental shelf, that is, deep oceanic
Tidal water is allowed to flow up into the estuary on a water close to shore, in order to keep costs to a minimum.
rising tide. As the tide turns and is about to fall, the barrage Economic viability continues to be the main restriction on
gates that allowed the water to flow into the estuary are then development.
closed. The resultant water that is held back is then channeled There are two main system types: closed and open. These
through hydroturbines as it is released back out to sea on the can be either land based or floating offshore.
falling tide. The closed systems operate using warm surface water to
evaporate a low boiling point liquid, for example, ammonia,
and then passing the resultant gas through a turbine. The
4.2 Tidal lagoon
gas is then condensed back into a liquid using cold deep
water. The cold deep water is brought to the surface via
These are similar to tidal barrages; however, they do not dam
pipes using either pumps or desalinating seawater on the
the entire estuary. Instead, a curved wall is constructed out
seabed—causing the less dense water to rise.
into part of the estuary. The operating principles are the same
The open systems pump warm surface water into a low
as a tidal barrage.
pressure container causing it to boil. The steam is then used
to drive a turbine. The steam is condensed back into water
4.3 Dynamic tidal power using cold deep water. Upon boiling, the seawater deposits
its salt, thereby creating fresh water, which can be used as a
This concept centers around the construction of a long barrier by-product.
wall, for example, 50 km, from the coast out into the sea. As The by-products of the process, such as cold water to
the tide flows around the coast, it encounters the obstruction run air conditioning and refrigeration, desalinated water
of the wall, creating a head of water on the upstream side of for drinking and irrigation, and aquaculture utilizing
the wall. This water is then channeled through hydroturbines nutrient-rich bottom water, can be associated with devel-
built into the wall. The benefit of this system is that it can opments to offset the high electricity generation cost.
generate electricity on both the ebb and flow tides using Satisfying the energy needs of remote island communities
bidirectional hydroturbines in the wall. with few energy alternatives and high electricity costs
continues to be a major focus for deployment of test and
4.4 Tidal stream generators development plants, though until cost competitiveness is
significantly improved, deployment looks set to remain very
These are submerged devices fixed to the seabed in areas of limited.
high tidal stream velocities. The technology for extracting in
flow tidal stream energy is more mature than wave energy
conversion and a convergence to submerged horizontal axis 6 ENERGY ISLANDS
2 or 3 blade turbines (in effect, underwater wind turbines),
with typically a 1-MW device capacity has occurred. The Man-made (floating, piled, or built up from the seabed) arti-
first precommercial arrays of several devices are under ficial islands have been proposed to act as a base for a combi-
development. nation of solar, wind, wave, and OTEC technologies. The

Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering, online © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article is © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe097
Also published in the Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering (print edition) ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2
 Introduction to Offshore Renewables 7

high cost of constructing artificial islands prevents commer- Grout Fast curing, high strength cement used
cialization, unless an additional benefit can be combined with for fixing a transition piece to a
the island, such as cruise ship berths, hotel accommodation, monopile.
energy storage, or aquaculture. Where construction costs can Jackup vessel A vessel where the hull is fitted with
be minimized, that is, in shallow water sites close to the vertically movable legs that when
coast, projects may become feasible. An example of this is placed on the seabed, enable the
off the coast of Belgium, where an artificial island enclosing vessel to lift itself out of the water,
a central lagoon has been proposed in order to store wind forming a stable platform.
energy. Excess wind power, during times of high generation, Monopile A large diameter hollow steel tube
would be used to pump water into a central lagoon. This hammered into the seabed.
water would then be channeled through hydroturbines to flow Nacelle The section of a wind turbine at the top
back to sea during times of low or no wind. of the tower housing the main
drivetrain and generator components.
Offshore Electrical equipment for switching
7 THE FUTURE converter alternating current (AC) to high
voltage direct current (HVDC).
Overall, the offshore renewables industry (mostly wind) is Piling Driving a structure into the seabed using
the fastest growing marine industry in the world on a growth repeated hammer blows.
curve similar to offshore oil and gas in the 1980s. It looks set Steel jacket Steel tubes welded together into a lattice
to play a major part in electricity supply where it is deployed structure.
and will overtake offshore oil and gas in terms of investment Transition piece A steel tube placed over the top of a
and employment in many places around the world. monopile into which a wind turbine
tower is placed.

GLOSSARY

Gravity base A concrete tower placed on the seabed

and filled with ballast.

Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering, online © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article is © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe097
Also published in the Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering (print edition) ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2