Introduction - Structural Integrity of Offshore Wind Turbines - page 9

the United States but that no one set was complete. All have deficiencies
in their coverage (for example, storms and hurricanes on the Atlantic
coast and in the Gulf of Mexico) or their analysis methods that would
have to be remedied before they could be used in the United States.
To respond fully to its charge, however, the committee believed that it
had to do more than review existing standards and guidance and indicate
their deficiencies. Other reports have identified at least some of the defi-
ciencies, and the committee has drawn on these reports for its assessment.
The committee's view was that, to provide BOEMRE with useful feedback,
the committee should offer its perspectives on how BOEMRE might rem-
edy those deficiencies. It believed that it should step back and examine not
only the mechanics of remedying the deficiencies but also the underlying
philosophies that could guide the development of additional standards or
guidance documents for offshore wind turbines in the United States.
In applying this broader perspective, the committee reviewed the
approaches to oversight of offshore wind turbines taken by European
countries. It noted that current standards and guidance in Europe
range from very detailed and prescriptive to high-level and less pre-
scriptive. The committee also reviewed how the safety of engineered
structures is overseen in other U.S. industries—oil and gas production,
waterborne shipping, and buildings. It noted that regulation in these
industries has been moving away from a detailed, prescriptive model
and toward a more performance-based model.
As discussed in Chapter 4, the committee's consensus is that
performance-based oversight is the most effective approach to reme-
dying deficiencies in standards and practices for offshore wind instal-
lations. This approach will help to fulfill two government objectives:

• The safe, orderly, and environmentally responsible development of

renewable energy on the OCS, which is the charge of BOEMRE; and

• The broad exploitation of the offshore wind resource, which is an objec-

tive of the U.S. Department of Energy and is in line with the adminis-
tration's stated priorities.

Structural failures in offshore wind farms pose lower risk to human
health and the environment than do structural failures in oil and gas
platforms. In the committee's view, however, successful exploitation of