ABS revises Guide for Building and Classing Bottom-Founded Offshore Wind Turbines

The American Bureau of Shipping has issued the revised Guide for Building and Classing Bottom-Founded Offshore Wind Turbines, effective 1 November 2023.

This Guide provides criteria for the design, construction, installation, and survey of Bottom-Founded Offshore Wind Turbines, which possess permanently sited substructures and foundations of offshore wind turbines attached on and supported by the sea floor.

The criteria applicable to floating offshore wind turbines are provided in the ABS Guide for Building and Classing Floating Offshore Wind Turbines (FOWT Guide).

Requirements for ancillary offshore wind farm installations such as meteorological measuring towers, accommodation units, and transformer platforms are not addressed in this Guide.

For the requirements for offshore substations and electrical service platforms, refer to the ABS Requirements for Offshore Substations and Electrical Service Platforms.

For the requirements for other bottom-founded installations, refer to the ABS Rules for Building and Classing Offshore Installations.

The November 2023 revision incorporates references to the ABS Guidance Notes on Global Performance and Integrated Load Analysis for Offshore Wind Turbines, a new mandatory class notation for “Strength Criteria for Site-specific Conditions (S)", updates for the tropical revolving storm wind model to align with API RP 2MET, and editorial changes.

If you need more information, please visit the ABS Rules and Guides page, where the document is available FOR FREE.