Offshore Wind Energy - Safety and Security with Sensor Systems

The Offshore Wind Energy Supply System (OWESS) faces a number of threats and vulnerabilities which could result in a failure of the power supply to the transmission system, and thereby affect the power supply for onshore customers. This paper shows which elements, processes and risks of the system are able, in extreme cases, to cause a regional black-out. Sensors and sensor systems can be deployed for the early detection of special threats and dangers, although this happens more often for reasons of safety than of security. The lack of negative security experiences seems to be responsible for this situation, whereby security sensor technologies, such as those that represent standard solutions in the offshore oil and gas industry, have not yet been applied within the OWESS.