Offshore Wind Turbine Blade Painting Pilot

The Government has a Clean Power by 2030 Mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower with aims to cut bills, create jobs and deliver security with cheaper, zero-carbon electricity by 2030, accelerating to net zero. This will be delivered, in part, by radically increasing the UK's offshore wind capacity. The Government is also clear that nature recovery should go hand in hand with delivering on the Clean Power Mission. Defra is implementing an Offshore Wind Environmental Improvement Package (OWEIP) which aims to accelerate offshore wind deployment whilst protecting the marine environment.

Designing and implementing Offshore Wind Environmental Standards (OWES) is a key part of the OWEIP and will support offshore wind developers to take a more consistent approach to avoiding, reducing, and mitigating for the impact of their offshore wind farms on the marine environment. Part of Defra's aim through the development of the OWES is to explore innovative approaches to provide protection to the marine environment, whilst ensuring compatibility with other marine activities.

Offshore Wind Evidence and Change (OWEC) Programme

The Offshore Wind Evidence and Change (OWEC) programme, run by The Crown Estate, in partnership with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). brings together a coalition of 26 government organisations, industry bodies, and environmental NGOs to collaborate and act as agents for change in the face of climate and biodiversity crises. The programme funds a range of projects to de-risk and accelerate the delivery of clean offshore technologies and supports the UK's position as one of the most attractive places to invest in offshore renewables, whilst enabling our marine and coastal ecosystems to thrive. To date, The Crown Estate has funded 35 projects to fill critical knowledge gaps and support the offshore wind consenting process.

Defra's OWEC Funded Pilot Programme

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 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 and 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.