DT-OWF
Exploring the use of Digital Twins to mitigate environmental risks of offshore wind farms through stakeholder consultations in Nova Scotia
CONTEXT, OBJECTIVES
Digital Twins (DTs) are real-time virtual models that replicate physical systems by integrating data, advanced modelling, and simulations. In offshore wind farms (OWFs), DTs can represent individual turbines, components, or entire farms, helping to improve OWFs’ efficiency.
Traditional approaches often assess OWF efficiency and ecosystem health separately, such as monitoring turbine performance through operational data, while environmental assessments track species distribution or habitat quality independently. This isolation can miss the crucial interactions between the two systems. A DT helps overcome this gap by establishing a two-way link. It integrates operational data from OWFs (such as noise, vibrations, or seabed disturbance) with ecological data (such as fish migration, biofouling, or biodiversity changes). By doing so, it creates feedback loops that demonstrate how changes in OWF operations directly impact marine ecosystems and how these ecosystem responses, in turn, influence OWF performance, risks, and maintenance. A DT acts as an integrating hub, moving beyond isolated measurement to provide a holistic view of the co-dependency between renewable energy infrastructure and marine environments.
In Nova Scotia, where the OWF industry is still emerging, there is a limited understanding of stakeholder perspectives on the value and design of DTs for OWFs managing environmental risks.
This project, led by Dalhousie University in collaboration with Net Zero Atlantic (NZA), seeks to explore stakeholder views on the potential use of DTs in Nova Scotia’s offshore wind sector, with a focus on monitoring, predicting, and managing trade-offs in environmental impacts. The high-level objectives are:
- Engage diverse stakeholders (industry, government, academia, NGOs, indigenous communities, and the public) to capture perspectives on DT applications in OWFs.
- Identify key requirements for DT development tailored to Nova Scotia’s local, regulatory, and policy context.