Development and challenges of support structures for offshore wind turbines

Abstract

AbstractThe objective of this article is to provide an overview on the development of the offshore wind energy and the challenges regarding the support structures of wind turbines. Since this field is very broad, the focus of this paper is on four topics: The general development of offshore wind energy, the different design types, the verification of fatigue strength and a review of the approval procedure and new normative regulations. Hence, a summary of the development of the offshore wind energy including an outlook is provided. Further, the different design types of support structures are introduced. A central topic of this paper is the testing and verification of fatigue strength of the critical design details, particularly the connections. As the author is active in several committees, challenges, changes and innovations in approval procedures and standardization are also discussed. Finally, these topics are summarized and related to the importance of offshore wind energy for the energy transition.