The growth of wind energy into markets with high seismic activity is redefining traditional structural design criteria. In response to this scenario, DNV published the 2026 edition of its recommended practice DNV-RP-0585, a technical document that updates the guidelines for seismic design of onshore wind farms and offshore facilities, incorporating new risk assessment and management methodologies applicable throughout the entire design cycle.
The revision responds to an increasingly common reality in the industry: wind projects developed in regions where earthquakes constitute a dominant design condition rather than an exceptional scenario.
Asia-Pacific countries such as Japan and Taiwan, along with other areas of the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, concentrate part of the projected growth in global wind capacity and require more robust structural criteria to ensure the safety and reliability of installations.
DNV seismic design becomes a fundamental criterion for wind energy
Seismic loads simultaneously affect multiple components of a wind farm. In addition to towers and foundations, a seismic event can compromise the integrity of offshore substations, export cables, electrical systems, support structures, and even the specialized vessels used during turbine installation and maintenance.
Unlike other industrial infrastructures, a wind turbine is permanently subjected to dynamic loads generated by wind and rotor rotation. When these actions coincide with seismic movements, structural behavior acquires an additional level of complexity that requires numerical models capable of representing the interaction between aerodynamic, dynamic, and geotechnical loads.
DNV: New criteria for structural and geotechnical analysis
The 2026 edition incorporates improvements in seismic analysis methodologies and structural modeling requirements, with the objective of more accurately representing the dynamic response of wind assets during an earthquake.
Among the main updates are new recommendations for evaluating soil-structure interaction, a determining aspect in the behavior of monopile foundations, jackets, and other solutions used in both onshore and offshore wind farms.
Another relevant advancement consists of incorporating methodologies to identify critical positions within large wind farms, enabling optimization of structural analysis without the need to individually model each turbine under all possible load combinations.
Offshore engineering incorporates new seismic scenarios
One of the most innovative contributions of the recommended practice is the inclusion of specific criteria for installation vessels operating in areas with seismic activity. These vessels play an essential role during the transport and lifting of large components, so they must maintain high levels of operational stability even in complex geological environments.
The update also incorporates a technical appendix dedicated to the regulatory requirements in force in Japan, one of the most dynamic offshore markets in the world and, at the same time, one of the countries with the highest recorded seismic activity.
Global expansion of wind energy drives regulatory evolution
The incorporation of more advanced seismic criteria reflects a structural change in the evolution of the wind sector. While early developments were concentrated in regions with low tectonic activity, the need to expand renewable generation is driving projects in areas where seismic risk constitutes a determining variable from the earliest engineering stages.
In this context, recommended practices cease to be merely reference documents and become tools that contribute to reducing design uncertainties, facilitating certification processes, and improving operational reliability over decades of service.
Source and photo: https://www.dnv.com/
