Floating wind farm developers could but shouldn’t

• Negotiate power purchase agreements without understanding and preparing to deal with the certainty of mooring systems failing.  Regardless of how they are made, moorings all fail eventually because of the constantly shifting loads, exposure to salt water and other risks.  

• Design a safety plan without understanding how dangerous it is for a worker to be at the top of floating wind turbine even in calm seas. 

• Organize a supply chain when domestic content requirements run up against the reality that these huge wind turbines are not made in the Americas.
• Assume that the production and assembly of floating platforms are one of the lesser challenges. There may be just two US construction companies large enough to tackle this work and even with planned improvements, neither Humboldt Bay or Morro Bay has the capacity or workforce to make the hundreds of massive modules which will be needed. If individual developers attempt to do this on their own, they will be competing for scarce resources and slow all of their projects.

Windustrial Risk Management has solutions. We combine the experience, education and talent of engineers with five decades of experience in floating systems, economists who have evaluated energy projects for regulators, developers, investors and others; safety professionals entrusted with the well-being of hundreds of thousands of construction workers, training experts who have prepared thousands of wind energy technicians, and insurance underwriters who know they will cover some huge losses no matter how much care is taken.