"The newly established certification regime for offshore wind turbines is comparable with what is well known from e.g. Class Rules for ships," says Jan Behrendt Ibsø, General Manager for DNV Global Wind Energy.

A supplement to existing standards
DNVs certification regime will be a supplement, rather than a competitor, to the already existing international standard for wind turbines, IEC. As of today there are no national or international standards covering offshore wind turbines.

Investments in offshore wind projects are anticipated to run up to 13 billion Euro.

Four standards
The first design and certification standard intends to cover this gap, by including requirements for everything below the upper part of the wind turbines (the nacelle) at sea.

The next standard, to be issued by November, will cover the blades as well. Thereafter there will be issued a standard for wind turbines’ electrical components, and subsequently a standard covering the wind turbines’ gearbox.

"The wind energy market is about to become global. Today we have identified projects in France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, United Kingdom, Germany and Sweden. Spain is in the pipeline together with the US," says an optimistic Jan B. Ibsø.