Offshore Wind Turbine Blade Painting Pilot

The latest OWEC project call opened in September 2023, and Defra submitted a successful funding bid, split equally, to pilot two innovative approaches to manage the environmental impacts of offshore wind. These are turbine blade painting, to reduce bird collisions, and a noise limit to reduce the impact of construction noise on marine species. The project in this Invitation to Tender (ITT) will focus on turbine blade painting only. It will consist of a multi-year programme of work to gather evidence to test whether turbine blade painting on offshore wind projects is achievable in protecting vulnerable seabirds. If successful, turbine blade painting could be part of future OWES.

Project aim This pilot project will trial turbine blade painting to assess whether turbine blade painting is successful in reducing avian collision risk in an offshore wind context. Project Objectives The turbine blade painting pilot is designed to establish whether turbine blade painting is successful in reducing avian collision risk in an offshore wind context. The objectives for the pilot will be to identify whether and for what species turbine blade painting is effective in increasing avoidance rates, the likely range(s) in increased avoidance rates, and what un-intended consequences there are (e.g. increase in distance and/or magnitude of displacement). The pilot will consist of two closely connected projects: a laboratory trial which tests and optimises the efficacy of different blade patterns under controlled conditions, and a field trial testing their effectiveness offshore.