Environmental Impact Across Life Cycle Stages of Offshore Wind Farms - A Systematic Review

<p dir="ltr">Offshore wind farms (OWFs) have emerged as a key technology towards the global renewable energy transition, offering significant potential for mitigating climate change and reducing dependence on fossil fuels (Rezaei et al., 2023). The rapid expansion of OWFs, driven by the need for clean energy, has been accompanied by growing concerns about their environmental impacts at different stages of their life cycle (Ouro et al., 2024). While OWFs are considered as clean energy source, their development and operation raise various environmental issues, including habitat disruption, emissions from production, and risks to marine ecosystems (Amponsah et al., 2014; Kouloumpis & Azapagic, 2021). Previous studies have highlighted that the environmental footprint of OWFs varies significantly across different life cycle stages, including material extraction, manufacturing, construction, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning (Pena et al., 2023). Understanding the full scope of these impacts is crucial for optimizing OWF designs, improving sustainability practices, and guiding informed policy decisions (Rezaei et al., 2023). Despite their promise to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, there is a lack of comprehensive studies that systematically evaluate the environmental impacts across these stages, thus highlighting the need for a review (Ouro et al., 2024). By synthesizing findings from existing research, there is a thriving need to analysis the environmental impacts of OWFs. This review provides an in-depth analysis of the environmental impacts of offshore wind farms across their life cycle, focusing on the key stages from material extraction to decommissioning. By collating data from literature, this review aims to investigate the environmental impacts of OWFs across life cycle stages.</p>