Hierarchy of References for Offshore Substation Facility in the US OCS

Selecting a set of standards for offshore wind farm development in the US can be a complex process. According to current regulations, offshore wind developers in the US are required take a "design basis approach," rather than following a prescribed set of standards. This means that it is up to the developer to propose a coherent set of standards that are best suited to meet the project needs, equivalent to existing regulatory requirements for similar applications, and based on the principle of the best available and safest economically feasible technologies (BAST). It's important to note that there may be standards prescribed in other CFRs that are applicable to an offshore wind project.

When planning offshore wind projects and selecting standards, it may be helpful to consider the hierarchy of references illustrated above. It's worth noting that in this hierarchy, design standards due to Project Certification are listed after International Standards because Project Certification is not a regulatory requirement in the US. The scope of Project Certification is slightly different than verification by a Certified Verification Agent (CVA), which is mandated by 30 CFR 585.

Once the hierarchy of references has been discussed and agreed upon, project discipline leads should use the hierarchy to identify the set of standards to be included as part of the design basis. For example, here's a working example of how to select a coherent set of design standards for the fire protection discipline.

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Update history:

2021-03-09: First published.

2021-10-24: Revised illustration to include reference to NFPA 850. NFPA 850 provides recommended practice for various types of fire protection systems that may be used.?

2022-08-04: Revised illustration and corrected some typos.