As offshore wind development moves into deeper waters, scientists are beginning to study environmental changes that extend beyond electricity generation.
A major research campaign off the northeast coast of Scotland was launched in summer 2025 to investigate how floating wind farms interact with the surrounding ocean. Scientists are also examining whether the structures can influence the movement of nutrients through the water.
The project involves ships, underwater gliders, and other instruments to investigate conditions around two floating wind farms.
Unexpected patterns emerge in the water
An important aspect of the work is an inquiry related to nutrients and plankton.
Plankton rely heavily upon nutrients that are found in deeper waters to produce biomass. If these nutrients are moved from the deeper waters up into warmer surface layers by tidal currents flowing through floating wind farms, then there is a possibility that plankton growth could increase.
Researchers say increased plankton productivity could benefit biodiversity and fisheries.
Scientists hope to answer whether nutrient transport via turbulent tidal flows caused by interactions between tidal currents and floating wind turbines occurs.
They also want to determine the scale of the phenomenon.
According to the University of Liverpool, wind power accounted for nearly 30 percent of all electricity produced in the United Kingdom in 2024. Approximately one-half of that electricity was generated by offshore wind farms, highlighting the sector’s growing role in the country’s energy mix.
The industry’s next move takes it into deeper waters
As suitable shallow-water locations for installing wind turbines become increasingly occupied, the industry is shifting its efforts toward generating power in deeper waters. This has led to an increased focus on developing floating wind technologies, according to the University of Liverpool.
The greater depths where these floating offshore wind farms are installed create different ocean environments than many conventional offshore wind farms.
During much of the summer months, a warm layer of water forms atop cooler layers of water beneath.
Beneath this surface layer exists a cold body of water containing essential nutrients required by plankton residing near the surface of these waters. Scientists believe turbulent flows created by tidal currents passing through floating wind turbines could transport some of these nutrients upward.
The goal was to utilize this campaign to investigate whether this process is indeed occurring near floating wind turbines and whether this process can result in altered oceanic productivity.
Researchers from the University of Southampton are also studying changes in ocean temperature and water-layer structure.
They are doing so by monitoring high-voltage marine cables associated with offshore wind farms.
Cooler wakes have become a focus for new research
Observations made during the summer 2023 record-breaking heat wave helped inspire the research campaign. Dr. Ben Lincoln, an oceanographer at Bangor University, said surface waters across much of the region warmed by 4 to 5 degrees Celsius (about 7 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal during the 2023 heat wave.
Yet researchers observed that water located downstream of floating wind farms remained relatively cooler than nearby surface waters.
According to Dr. Lincoln, cooler wakes were formed as a direct result of turbulent flows that transferred colder water upward from deeper parts of the ocean. He added that if cooler water is carried toward the surface, nutrients within that cooler water could also be transported upward toward plankton.
The researchers’ primary goal for this campaign is to measure just how significant an impact this mixing has on oceanic productivity.
Current theory suggests that a warming ocean could eventually lead to reduced productivity in marine ecosystems.
Researchers hope the study will help determine whether nutrients mixed upward by floating offshore wind farms can offset some of the reduction in productivity expected in a warming ocean.
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