Page 24: of Marine News Magazine (April 2024)

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Feature

Navigation cables, 9 miles of cables connecting substations and up to blurred, undependable information for vessel crews.

two export transmission cables with “associated secondary In the fairways Notice, the USCG references the NAS cable protection” (text is from the permit) within a 42-mile- study, that vessels navigating in wind farms “could experience long offshore export cable corridor extending from the lease interference and re? ectivity due to the turbine structures and area north into Rhode Island Sound and Narragansett Bay, blades which could lead to degrading effectiveness and con- making landfall near Quonset Point in North Kingstown, fusing navigational pictures. The unique combination of fac-

RI. Orsted must submit a scour and cable protection plan tors in wind farms may lead to reduced navigational effec- at least 120 days before starting scour and cable protection tiveness and lost contact with smaller objects such as buoys, efforts. A monitoring plan is also required. smaller commercial ? shing vessels, and recreational vessels.”

The USCG’s references to radar issues are oblique. (The

Wind towers and radar degradation

USCG’s Federal Register text does not even include the word

Concerns about wind towers and radar degradation re- “radar”; the word only appears in a footnote referencing the main an open set of issues. These concerns extend beyond title of the NAS report.) The Coast Guard does not ask for in- vessels and aircraft to weather and environmental moni- sights or comments on how or whether radar failure might be toring, search and rescue and tracking environmental ac- important – or not – within fairways. The Coast Guard rec- cidents, such as oil spills. Problems with radars and wind ommends “additional caution” through WEAs. But within towers have been known for at least a decade but the topic the proposed fairways, the USCG text implies that commer- received high level attention in February 2022, when the cial vessels won’t need radar, that vessels will be able to pro-

National Academy of Sciences published a report “Com- ceed “without experiencing signi? cant degradation in naviga- mittee on Wind Turbine Generator Impacts to Marine tion.” It’s not clear whether that safety – without radar – also

Vessel Radar.” (BOEM was a Report sponsor.) Turbine extends to traf? c separation operations and cautionary zones.

blades and towers skew radar performance, resulting in

In comments to BOEM, NOAA raises radar issues, al-

Emily Velez / U.S. Coast Guard 24 | MN April 2024