Offshore Wind Power Projects Should Establish Technical Standards for Full Life Cycle

China is rich in offshore wind power resources,which makes it suitable to develop offshore wind power in large scale. By the end of 2015, the total installed capacity of offshore wind power in China is nearly 500MW, ranking the fifth in the world only after the United Kingdom, Denmark, Belgium and Germany.

At present, the domestic development of offshore wind power is in the initial stage, and the development process involves a number of relevant government departments. Currently the lack of a unified safety regulatory system and related technical requirements has become a problem which affects the healthy,sustainable and safe development of offshore wind power industry, and this needs urgent solution. Therefore, in order to strengthen the safety management of offshore wind power,maintain the order of water traffic, guarantee the safety of ship traffic, prevent water pollution and protect the life and property safety of employees, it is urgent to conduct research on the safety management system and technical requirements of offshore wind power and form safety management measures to guide wind power development.

The safety management system for offshore wind power projects should be improved and innovated. At the same time,unified technical standards for the industry should be developed.Judging from the experience of foreign countries, the norms and practices of marine engineering industry can technically better ensure the quality and safety of the wind power structural engineering design of its foundation and booster station. Therefore, based on the existing offshore wind power engineering practice or related research, and combined with mature marine engineering industry norms and engineering experience, specialized norms and technical guidelines covering the entire life cycle, and are suitable for offshore wind power economy and its characteristics should be developed as soon as possible. The contents should include the overall layout,structural strength, mechanical and electrical equipment,escape, life-saving, fire and fire protection, radio equipment,pollution prevention, collision avoidance signals, ship parts,offshore hoisting and piling, cable laying depth and inspection techniques. All above are used to standardize the scientific and orderly development of offshore wind power projects.

Specific recommendations on safety management of offshore installations of wind power facilities are given from two aspects:management requirements and technical requirements. Management Requirements:It is suggested that the competent department of maritime affairs promulgate laws and regulations on the safety management of offshore installations of wind power facilities and provide safety management. The implementation of comprehensive safety supervision and management of maritime authorities for the construction and operation of offshore wind power should be clear. It is suggested that the certification system should be adopted for the safety management of offshore wind power.Technical Requirements:It is recommended that the maritime administrative authorities should issue specific technical rules on the safety management of offshore facilities which should list detailed technical requirements for design, construction,operation and disposal within the whole life cycle process.