A novel approach to environmental risk mitigation during construction and installation of a wind farm

Offshore structures and operations significantly impact the surrounding environment, and future offshore renewable energy developments are no exception. Many Australian offshore oil and gas platforms have the potential to act as artificial reefs, creating an excellent opportunity for the growth of marine communities that are often in danger due to other human activities or environmental impacts. Decommissioning of these platforms will impose substantial risks to the existing ecosystem in those habitats. Therefore, there is a need to understand the environmental impacts of installation, operation, and maintenance (O&M) and decommissioning activities in new offshore renewable energy infrastructure prior to developments. This becomes more important in the case of future offshore wind farm development in Australia, where no historical information is available. This paper proposes a game-theoretical approach to identifying the optimum risk mitigation strategies for minimizing the environmental impact of future offshore wind infrastructure and operations. As a case study, the method is applied to examine the risks imposed by constructing and installing an offshore wind farm in the Bass Strait. The governments and regulators can adopt the proposed mitigation strategies to develop policies and legislation to ensure the sustainability of marine environments.