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22 MN February 2011 OFFSHORE WIND SOLUTIONS Here Be Dragons Medieval cartographers emblazed uncharted and unexplored seas with the warning “Here Be Dragons.” The existence of these mythical creatures was debunked through exploration and knowledge. In business, the dragon is also the unknown, and it can be slain through the same methods used by explorers of old, namely through research into the business itself and by careful planning. As some of us in the maritime industry prepare to set sail into the uncharted seas of offshore wind energy in the United States there are things to be kept in mind by both the maritime industry and wind park owner/operators. The first is the old saying “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” The second is two competing philosophies for new markets, (a) get by with what you have, and (b) develop solutions to address the new market safely and efficiently which will serve for the lifecycle of the market. Ignore these things and the myth- ical dragon will indeed become a reality. How can the emerging offshore wind energy companies and maritime industries avoid unnecessary risk and slay the dragon so we can all sail into the new energy market? One critical method is by immediately engaging and implementing a Systems Engineering (SE) process for the offshore wind parks. To be perfectly clear, the system extends beyond the wind turbines. I have talked to many people within the offshore wind energy industry and there is a significant disconnect between those who have learned the hard lessons of off- shore wind energy and those who are proposing to design, develop and operate the new systems within the U.S. This disconnect may imperil both the emerging U.S. offshore wind energy developers and the maritime operations sup- porting them. Fortunately, this can be avoided through an immediate and robust dialogue between the stakeholders. Offshore Wind Energy Support Vessels — A Critical Path The first U.S. offshore wind projects are slated to come online in 2012. Designing and certifying purpose built Offshore Wind & Systems Engineering By Jeffrey S. Pyle Figure 1 Basic OSWEV System Engineering Flow Figure 2 Offshore Wind Energy Design Interdependencies
