CA25138 - Secure and Adaptive Frameworks for Environmentally sustainable Offshore WIND expansion (SAFEWIND)

Europe requires a seven-fold expansion of offshore wind (OSW) capacity by 2030 to achieve its ambitious net zero goals. Meeting this target in a way that is safe, resilient and sustainable requires new turbine structures but also solutions to bottlenecks in grid and port infrastructure, streamlined regulatory processes and optimisation of socio-economic benefits for coastal communities. Co-existence adds further complexity through OSW interactions with fisheries, sea users and marine ecosystems, where long-term impacts remain poorly understood.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has potential to enable transformative change to OSW site planning and logistics, impact assessment and workforce training. It can inform processes to overcome barriers across regulation, infrastructure, and coexistence. However, with growing automation of operational infrastructure, new vulnerabilities arise. Cybersecurity risks, such as external model manipulation, data theft, and unsafe agent behaviour, pose threats to turbines, grids, and autonomous vessels, and could undermining energy security. AI’s own environmental footprint has also come under scrutiny, highlighting the need for low-cost, energy-efficient algorithms. Moreover, climate change introduces deep uncertainty for OSW design and operations through shifts in wind patterns, rising sea levels, and intensifying storms that can complicate energy yield forecasts, structural health monitoring, and vessel access. AI can support adaptation by downscaling climate models, forecasting extreme events, and embedding risk-aware learning into digital twins. 

This COST Action convenes a balanced, inclusive, geographically-diverse network of experts. By highlighting gaps in data, knowledge, regulation, and best practice, it will create roadmaps towards safe, sustainable, digitally-enabled OSW growth and strengthen Europe’s OSW leadership.