Wind Wakes: Briefing Webinar

Our webinar panel discusses offshore wind (OSW) farm "wakes", or trails of lower speed downwind that can reduce neighbouring farms' generation, are a key emerging industry issue that goes to the heart of the available wind resource equation. It will become more evident if the number and size of closer-together farms grows unprecedentedly, as per ambitious national build-out targets. Are governments thinking ahead enough about this? Does it figure in marine spatial planning? What is the best use of the seabed? Are there laws to handle claims from "waked" parties for compensation? Is there a role for treaties or private contracts?
Please find the running order below. The presentations can be downloaded at: ore.catapult.o...
0:00: Tom Quinn, OREC Head of Analysis & Insights: welcome and introduction.
4:35: Ken Kasriel, OREC Energy Economist: overview of OSW wakes and economic/regulatory issues they raise
18:57: the widely-published Nicolai Nygaard, Senior Lead Specialist at Ørsted: technical background and insights from the world's largest wind power developer
32:34: Eirik Finseraas, PhD Candidate in OSW Regulation at the University of Bergen, Norway: discussing the just-published multidisciplinary paper he lead-authored, "Gone with the wind? Wind farm-induced wakes and regulatory gaps"
44:34: Professor KK DuVivier, University of Denver Sturm School of Law, and author of "Preventing Wind Waste" and other articles: wake-related lessons from US wind development on private lands and current US strategies to deal with OSW wakes
55:42 Tim Pick, experienced energy and infrastructure lawyer, former UK Government OSW Champion, and present Chair of the UK's OSW Growth Partnership: for this novel international legal question, which existing precedents/instruments might guide us? Those for sharing cross-border petroleum deposits? fishing grounds? dammed rivers?
1:01:30 Stuart Gordon, Managing Associate at UK law firm Addleshaw Goddard: an interesting walk-through of a wind-wake compensation agreement he helped negotiate between two wind farm owners. A useful reminder that while waiting for governments to set rules, co-operating parties can use sensible contracts to reduce uncertainty and economic loss.
1:09:30 Panel discussion