Navigating the Ascent

Limiting global atmospheric temperature increase will require electricity generation from renewable sources such as offshore wind energy development, which has increased exponentially over the past two decades. An offshore wind farm can exceed 100 individual foundations built across seabed areas of 400 km2 (roughly the size of Philadelphia), each supporting a structure nearly the height of the Eiffel Tower (330 m). In the U.S., geodata (i.e., seabed geology and geotechnical properties) are required at every turbine location per the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management guidelines. To install just one-fifth of the 2,500 GW of renewable energy needed to meet net zero goals by 2050 (a conservative assessment for offshore wind), more than 120,000 km2 of seabed will be needed (roughly the size of Pennsylvania), and over 30,000 turbines built at today’s 15 MW capacity. Site characterization for this planned construction will require more than 1.5 million m of in-situ testing, 500 km of geotechnical borings, and 10 million km of geophysical survey lines.