In the excitement of planning the first offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea it is important not to lose from sight a question, what are we going to do with them once they served their purpose? In the offshore legislation system many good examples are taken from the other European nations that already commissioned offshore wind farms. A consideration of decommissioning at early planning stages is one of the good examples that is likely to be followed by all Baltic States preparing for harvesting the offshore wind. A vital part in the UK offshore projects approval process is [...]

In the planning stages of the offshore wind developments various monitoring schemes are considered during lifetime of the structures. Some, like structural monitoring are obvious. Other, like marine growth and alien species monitoring may not be so obvious but if planned and scheduled regularly could be cost-saving by allowing practical and effective management of maintenance and decommissioning processes[...]