Navigating Towards Safe and Secure Offshore Wind Farms: An Indicator Based Approach in the German North and Baltic Sea

Abstract

Offshore wind farms (OWFs) have become an increasingly relevant form of renewable energy in recent years, with the German North Sea being one of the most active regions in the world. However, the safety and security of OWF have become increasingly important due to the potential threats and risks associated with their growing share in the security of energy supply. This paper aims to present a comprehensive and systematic indicator-based approach to assess the safety and security status of OWFs in the German North Sea. The approach is based on the results of a survey of people working in the offshore industry and draws on the work published by Gabriel et al. (2022). The results of the study suggest that the indicator-based approach is a useful tool for end users to assess the security status of offshore wind farms and can be used for further research and development.