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Lighting the way to improved safety
Obstruction lighting for offshore wind turbines is at the crossroads between regulation, engineering and offshore operations. TÜV SÜD offers support to manufacturers and operators by providing independent testing, technical assessment and certifiable documentation
Sandro Schmidt Project Manager, Energy and Systems/Offshore Wind Energy, TÜV SÜD Industrie Service and Florian Hockel Director, Business and Service Development, TÜV SÜD Product Service
A vessel crew or flight deck often spots an offshore wind farm first as a pattern of flashing lights on the horizon. For operators, those lights are more than a marking requirement: they contribute significantly to critical infrastructure safety. As offshore capacity expands across the North and Baltic Seas, obstruction lighting has become a design, compliance and lifecycle issue.
Diverging requirements Obstruction marking falls simultaneously under aviation and maritime safety law. In Germany, the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration (WSV) governs marine marking, while the International Organization for Marine Aids to Navigation (IALA) shapes international Aids to Navigation (AtoN) guidance. Aviation authorities impose separate aircraft warning requirements. These can diverge in detail.
A marking concept approved for one site or jurisdiction may therefore need technical and documentary adaptation before it can be accepted elsewhere. Site- specific permitting conditions and local interpretations mean that developers and OEMs must treat obstruction lighting as an engineered solution. Compliance cannot rest on published product data for a given lighting component; authorities expect evidence that the full installation performs as designed under real operating conditions.
Photometric performance beyond brightness
Luminous intensity is not only the most cited parameter when assessing obstruction lighting in offshore wind turbines, it is also the most misleading in isolation. For this reason, marine marking requires 360° horizontal coverage and minimum intensities
across relevant vertical planes, reflecting the different viewing geometries of both vessels and aircraft.
Colour performance, however, is just as important. Chromaticity, which defines colour by hue and saturation, gives the signal its navigational meaning. A light that falls outside the prescribed region of the CIE chromaticity diagram can be misread. Luminance of illuminated tower surfaces, distribution uniformity and glare control then determine whether the signal remains detectable in fog, rain or reduced visibility.
Synchronisation, durability and system integrity An offshore wind farm creates a visual environment unlike that of a single obstruction. If dozens of identical lights flash out of time, the site can appear chaotic from a distance. This makes distance estimation
Offshore wind farm with transformer platform. The yellow colour ensures good visibility throughout the day. Photo: TÜV SÜD 38 | May/June 2026 |
www.modernpowersystems.com
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