Summary of Key Findings and Recommendations - Structural Integrity of Offshore Wind Turbines - page 123

7
Summary of Key Findings
and Recommendations
The charge of this committee was to review the proposed approach of
the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement
(BOEMRE) in overseeing the structural safety of offshore wind turbines. It
was to consider the design, fabrication, and installation of these turbines.
Specifically, the committee was charged with providing findings in three
areas: standards and practices, the role of certified verification agents
(CVAs), and the qualifications needed by CVAs. Specific findings and rec-
ommendations in these areas are given at the ends of Chapters 3, 4, 5, and
6 of this report. Those chapters should be consulted for details. The sections
below summarize the committee's key findings and recommendations.
During its review, the committee noted that the U.S. government, hav-
ing committed to exploiting the offshore wind energy resource, has an
interest in industry performance for reasons beyond its statutory mandate
to ensure the safe, orderly, and environmentally responsible use of the
outer continental shelf (OCS). For policy reasons, it also wants to foster
the growth of the nascent U.S. offshore wind industry (see the Chapter 4
section “Regulatory Options and Policy Considerations”), which will
require setting clear regulatory expectations soon and encouraging the
innovation that will help make offshore wind power generation more eco-
nomically competitive with other sources of electricity.
FINDING: SAFETY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
The risks to life safety and the environment and the consequences associ-
ated with those risks are much lower for offshore wind plants than for off-
shore oil and gas platforms, ships, and land-based civil structures such as
buildings. Oversight of offshore wind development should take this into
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