- Offshore wind turbines enter unknown territory, especially where the foundations are concerned. This is because offshore wind power can only make use of the experience from the common offshore constructions used by the oil and gas industry to a limited extent. The offshore wind industry has tried to reduce foundation dimensions, especially the pile lengths, as much as possible compared with those of the oil and gas industry. This is because with the large number of wind turbines involved it can provide considerable economic advantages. On the other hand, the stability of the foundations is additionally at risk because due to the much larger number of cyclic loads they are subjected to it is very difficult to predict how they will behave. Since offshore wind farms are manufactured in series, every systematic fault in the foundation acts as a series fault for a large number of turbines. This calls for monitoring – and the right dimensions of pile foundation, the most common type ofOffshore wind turbines enter unknown territory, especially where the foundations are concerned. This is because offshore wind power can only make use of the experience from the common offshore constructions used by the oil and gas industry to a limited extent. The offshore wind industry has tried to reduce foundation dimensions, especially the pile lengths, as much as possible compared with those of the oil and gas industry. This is because with the large number of wind turbines involved it can provide considerable economic advantages. On the other hand, the stability of the foundations is additionally at risk because due to the much larger number of cyclic loads they are subjected to it is very difficult to predict how they will behave. Since offshore wind farms are manufactured in series, every systematic fault in the foundation acts as a series fault for a large number of turbines. This calls for monitoring – and the right dimensions of pile foundation, the most common type of foundations used for wind turbines…