The demand for energy world wide is increasing every day. And in these "green times" renewable energy is a hot topic all over the world. Wind energy is currently one of the most popular energy sectors. The growth in the wind power industry has been tremendous over the last decade, its been increasing every year and it is nowadays one of the most promising sources for renewable energy. Since the...

In the offshore renewable energy industry, it is extremely important to reduce the likelihood as well as the magnitude of potential risk events during system’s actual operation. Operational risks (either risk of system failures or environmental risks) may cause catastrophic damages to personnel or infrastructure and result in substantial costs in terms of lost production and emergency maintenan...

The United States faces the major dilemma of meeting energy demands while simultaneously reducing the environmental consequences of energy production. How we resolve this dilemma has implications for the nation’s economy, environment and energy security. One of the many methods proposed for addressing this challenge is using the wind resource available off the coast of the United States to gene...

Fossil Fuels are always considered as environmental pollutants. On the other hand, the political and economic situations highly affect the price of these fuels. Offshore wind and wave, as renewable energy sources, represent the better alternatives for electricity generation. Therefore, it is necessary that wind speeds effectively be estimated due to the absence of field measurements of the wind...

The amount of wind power generation aims for three millions kWh by 2010 in Japan. It is very few offshore construction in Japan compared with European countries. It is generally said that offshore wind energy is greater than in land area, and few disturbance. In Japan, suitable construction sites for wind power generation in land are decreasing, then, the construction of wind power generation i...

There is a growing interest in applications of HVDC grids in many parts of the world. Comparing with individual HVDC links, HVDC grids can provide flexible energy transfers among multiple converter stations, improved system reliability, and reduced investment cost, etc. In particular, an offshore HVDC grid will allow the aggregation and delivery of power from offshore wind farms in different re...

The design of offshore wind turbines is one of the most fascinating challenges in renewable energy. Meeting the objective of increasing power production with reduced installation and maintenance costs requires a multi-disciplinary approach, bringing together expertise in different fields of engineering. The purpose of this theme issue is to offer a broad perspective on some crucial aspects of o...

The operation and in particular the construction of offshore wind converters induce considerable underwater noise emissions. It is assumed that small whales and seals can be affected by noise from machines and vessels, piling and installation of the wind turbines. Piling, in particular using hydraulic hammers creates impulsive noise with considerable high energy levels. Currently, only little k...

The use of offshore wind farms has been growing in recent years, as steadier and higher wind speeds can be generally found over water compared to land. Moreover, as human activities tend to complicate the construction of land wind farms, offshore locations, which can be found more easily near densely populated areas, can be seen as an attractive choice. However, the cost of an offshore wind far...

Over the past few decades, wind energy has emerged as an alternative to conventional power generation that is economical, environmentally friendly and, importantly, renewable. Specifically, offshore wind energy is being considered by a number of countries to harness the stronger and more consistent wind resource compared to that over land. To meet the projected “20% energy from wind by 2030” sc...