Design and Management of Global Offshore Wind Energy

Dear colleague,

Offshore wind energy is one of the most promising sources of renewable energy and is poised to develop into a USD 1 trillion business over the next decades according to the ‘Offshore Wind Outlook 2019’ report from the International Energy Agency (IEA). Offshore wind farms are being deployed all across the globe from Europe, the UK, the US to Asian countries such as China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.

The technology was once thought to be very costly and not viable without subsidies, but rapid advances in all facets of the industry, including transmission; foundation; tower, turbine, and blade technologies; and manufacturing, assembly, and deployment methods, have lowered the cost of energy and given rise to the first subsidy-free bids in Europe. However, there are still many challenges to be solved, as existing offshore wind farms enter the costly operation and maintenance phase, and the new designs call for much larger turbines to be installed further from the coast in deeper waters. Floating turbines might be an answer, but they come with additional costs, risks, and constraints. Offshore wind farms also pose challenges to the environment and navigation in some areas of the globe.

A well-defined and well-thought-through strategy covering all phases of the offshore wind farm life cycle with a long-term orientation, from design to decommissioning, is therefore desirable to minimize disruption to the environment and maximize availability of the energy generation process at the lowest possible cost. The main objective of this Special Issue is to address this knowledge gap for the benefit of researchers and practitioners. It is intended to publish high-quality, original research, relating to theory and application. Instructive results from case studies on Design and Management of Global Offshore Wind Energy based on real-world applications are highly encouraged. Potential contributions to this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

• New designs, technologies, and strategies for reducing the cost of energy and developing new markets for global offshore wind energy;
• The development of strategic and operational decision support models for managing the complexity of supply chains;
• Supply chain design, integration, collaboration, and impact on global offshore wind energy;
• The use of new models, materials, and technological innovations including AI, industry 4.0, AR/VR, digital twins, blockchain, and simulations to enhance designs, manufacturing, assembly, deployment, operations, and maintenance activities with respect to performance, reliability, cost, and mitigation of environmental risks;
• Advances in the management of the operations and maintenance, including spare parts management and risk-based planning, of offshore wind farms;
• Socio-economic and environmental impact analysis.

Prof. Dr. Amar Ramudhin
Prof. Dr. Nishikant Mishra
Guest Editors

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• offshore wind
• operations and maintenance
• offshore wind supply chain
• supply chain design
• new technologies
• impact analysis