Nearly 30,000 images showed gulls using France’s FLOATGEN turbine as a daytime rest stop and nighttime dormitory, while only two collisions appeared in nearly 2,000 analyzed flight sequences

Gulls are taking advantage of France’s offshore floating turbine during the day and night.

Offshore wind energy has evolved from nearshore installations to deep-sea power generators.

As more nations adopt the floating technology, understanding the potential wildlife impacts grows more important.

Projects focus on coastal protection and grey infrastructure, water and sanitation, transportation and shipping, urbanization, and natural infrastructure.

Historically, turbines have been known for high collision fatalities, but a French floating wind study proves otherwise.

Will these new insights help developers balance crucial ecological conservation with clean energy goals?

How coastal clean power became reliant on offshore wind

As more people began surging toward coastal regions worldwide, infrastructure development had to accelerate.

Projects focus on coastal protection and grey infrastructure, water and sanitation, transportation and shipping, urbanization, and natural infrastructure.

Consequently, this has left little room for onshore renewable energy capacity growth.

Beyond spatial limitations, land-based expansion also faces grid bottlenecks and zoning conflicts.

To overcome these conflicts, developers increasingly began turning to the sea.

The Global Wind Energy Council indicates that the world’s combined offshore wind capacity has exceeded 92.5 gigawatts.

The goal is to quadruple capacity to 420 gigawatts by 2035.

This shift is vital to meet the rising electricity demands experienced in these regions globally.

By capturing strong, consistent marine winds, higher output can be generated for high-capacity clean power needs.

However, as offshore installations grew more popular, the rapid overcrowding of shallow waters was not entirely taken into account.

From overcrowded shallow waters to deep-sea generation

The race to deploy fixed-bottom wind turbines in shallow coastal waters quickly began filling up.

Commercial fishing and maritime shipping already occupy a significant portion of coastal waters.

Furthermore, several areas are dedicated to marine protection, leaving little room near the shore for offshore wind capacity expansion.

Traditional offshore turbines also face depth limitations.

Anchoring foundations into seabeds is technically and financially unviable beyond 200 feet.

In France, these spatial and depth barriers are common along its busy coastlines.

As a result, developers looked further offshore to overcome these challenges.

By deploying floating turbines, stronger winds could be accessed from much deeper waters.

While this shift may have solved some problems, concerns over the impacts on the surrounding marine wildlife began to rise.

But it all depends on the species.

Fondation OPEN-C operates several offshore test sites in France, and evaluates potential interactions.

At one site, gulls began gathering at a floating turbine prototype.

Analyzing the interaction between gulls and France’s floating turbine

Birds are inevitably going to interact with wind turbines, even the floating ones.

At the SEM-REV offshore testing site, 12 nautical miles off the coast of Le Croisic, France, a prototype exemplifies this.

The nation’s first operational floating turbine, the FLOATGEN prototype, operates in depths of 108 feet.

The 2-megawatt turbine serves a multi-purpose research platform in the Atlantic’s harsh conditions.

Its job is to evaluate electricity production, structural performance, and environmental interactions.

Wildlife behavior is tracked using specialized cameras and monitoring equipment.

Tracking gull behavior around the structure

Almost 30,000 images captured gulls resting at the floating base during the day.

At night, the turbine became a popular roosting spot.

Nearly 2,000 flights were tracked near the blades.

However, only two collisions were recorded.

These findings indicate that the floating structure became an artificial resting spot and dormitory.

Furthermore, thanks to avoidance maneuvers near the blades, the majority of birds manage to pass through safely.

The results from the SEM-REV test site presents a promising future outlook for floating wind.

France is actively working toward achieving 6 gigawatts of floating wind capacity by 2040.

Major port upgrades along its coastlines will be key to accelerate expansion.

Globally, the deep-water floating infrastructure will help unlock vast maritime territories.

Ultimately, floating turbines are becoming essential in boosting clean energy generation while conserving wildlife.