ACCESS NUMBER: M10PC00098

STUDY TITLE: Visual Impact Evaluation System for Offshore Renewable Energy

REPORT TITLE: Visual Impact Evaluation System for Offshore Renewable Energy

CONTRACT NUMBER: M10PC00098

SPONSORING OCS REGION: Gulf of Mexico

APPLICABLE PLANNING AREA(S): All Outer Continental Shelf Areas (Atlantic, 

Pacific, Gulf of Mexico) 

FISCAL YEAR(S) OF PROJECT FUNDING: 2011; 2012; 2013; 2015

COMPLETION DATE OF REPORT: May 2016

COSTS: FY2011: $85,095; FY2012 $177,616; FY2013 $78,055.69; FY2015 $69,359 

PROJECT MANAGER(S): J. Cothren, R. Sullivan

AFFILIATION: University of Arkansas; Argonne National Laboratory

ADDRESS: 201 Administration Building, Fayetteville, AR 72701

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR(S)

*

: J. Cothren; R. Sullivan; 

KEY WORDS: renewable energy; off-shore; visualization; geographic information 

system; GIS; 

BACKGROUND: The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) Bureau of Ocean 

Energy Management (BOEM) faces increasing interest in the use of waters under its 

jurisdiction for offshore renewable energy development and continues to conduct 

studies necessary to evaluate and process potential applications for offshore wind, 

wave, and ocean current energy generation facilities. A programmatic environmental 

impact statement (EIS) to evaluate the impacts of alternative energy sources on the 

Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) was completed by BOEM in 2007. BOEM published the 

Cape Wind Final EIS in 2008, which examined the environmental impacts of the United 

States first proposed offshore wind energy development. Both of these EIS’s 

established that there are a variety of both onshore and offshore visual impacts 

associated with offshore renewable energy projects, and public comments for both 

EIS’s showed that there is substantial concern among the American public regarding 

the visual impact of these facilities. Currently available commercial software includes 

geographic information systems (GIS) and visualization tools designed expressly for 

siting and creating visual simulations of fossil energy systems or renewable energy 

facilities in terrestrial applications; however, due primarily to the very recent 

development of offshore renewable energy technologies, no computer tools currently 

exist that have been customized for offshore renewable energy technology siting and 

simulation.
ACCESS NUMBER: M10PC00098

OBJECTIVES: The BOEM Environmental Studies Program funded the development of 

a GIS-based tool designed expressly to support the assessment of potential visual 

impacts associated with offshore renewable energy technologies. The University of 

Arkansas’ Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies (CAST) developed a system for 

evaluating the visual impact for proposed locations of offshore renewable energy 

facilities, in collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory’s (Argonne’s) Environmental 

Science Division (EVS). 

DESCRIPTION: VIESORE, the Visual Impact Evaluation System for Offshore 

Renewable Energy, is a set of tools created to bridge the gap between ArcGIS and Vue 

Infinite, allowing a user to design the spatial layout and content of an offshore energy 

facility, import and prepare geospatial data, define atmospheric, lighting, and wave 

conditions, and generate photorealistic visualizations from multiple viewpoints. At the 

core of VIESORE are ArcGIS 10.1 for spatial data preparation and manipulation and 

Vue Infinite 10.5 for visualization rendering.

VIESORE has two primary components (Figure 1):

1. The GIS data preparation component, used to design the facility layout. This first step 

in a project is intended to be completed by a GIS technician familiar with GIS data and 

concepts such as geodatabases, spatial reference systems, ArcGIS data editing, and 

data manipulation. This component of VIESORE is where the data preparation and 

setup takes place.

2. The visualization component (“VueGen”), uses the proposed facility layout to 

generate a photorealistic rendering. No GIS skills are required to use this component. 

Here the user sets up, configures, and creates visualizations. The data that was 

carefully prepared on the GIS side (elevation, KOPs, offshore infrastructure such as 

wind turbine arrays) are now translated into formats usable by Vue Infinite, imported into 
ACCESS NUMBER: M10PC00098

Vue (based on the visualization parameters provided by the user on this side), and one 

or many visualizations are rendered by Vue Infinite.

SIGNIFICANT CONCLUSIONS: Given current and relatively low-cost software, it is 

possible to quickly (in minutes or hours) generate photorealistic renderings of off-shore 

renewable energy installations under the following conditions: 1) three-dimensional 

models of installations are available, 2) digital elevations models of the area of interest 

are available, 3) land cover type near the coastline is known, and 4) foreground objects 

do not affect the view of the off-shore installation from any given key observation point. 

The last condition is the most limiting aspect of an application such as VIESORE. In the 

absence of man-made and difficult to model foreground objects, however, it is possible 

to generate high-quality renderings that can rival photomontages. The comparative low 

cost of the data-driven VIESORE renderings is an advantage compared to the more 

traditional method of visiting the site during a variety of atmospheric conditions to 

generate photomontages. 

STUDY RESULTS: In order to provide calibration data for VIESORE renderings, a 

study was undertaken to assess visual impact of offshore renewable energy 

development on coast lands. Potential visual impact on coastal lands has emerged as a 

major concern in the development of offshore wind facilities in the United States and 

Europe. Optimal siting of offshore facilities and the design of the VueGen module 

required accurate knowledge of the relationship between distance and the visibility of 

wind turbines. Past assessments of offshore wind turbine visibility were based on 

smaller turbines and facilities in use at the time and underestimate visibility for current 

projects, which use more and larger turbines. Our study was a preliminary assessment 

of the visibility of offshore wind facilities in the United Kingdom. Study objectives 

included identifying the maximum distances the facilities could be seen in both daytime 

and nighttime views and assessing the effect of distance on visual contrasts associated 

with the facilities. Results showed that small to moderately sized facilities were visible to 

the unaided eye at distances greater than 42 km [26 miles (mi)], with turbine blade 

movement visible up to 39 km (24 mi). At night, aerial hazard navigation lighting was 

visible at distances greater than 39 km (24 mi). The observed wind facilities were 

judged to be a major focus of visual attention at distances up to 16 km (10 mi), were 

noticeable to casual observers at distances of almost 29 km (18 mi), and were visible 

with extended or concentrated viewing at distances beyond 40 km (25 mi). This 

information was used to calibrate VIESORE, ensuring that renderings were as realistic 

as possible.

STUDY PRODUCT(S): VIESORE version 1.0, Visual Impact Evaluation System for 

Offshore Renewable Energy. Application software, user’s manual and sample datasets.

Sullivan, Robert G., Leslie B. Kirchler, Jackson Cothren, and Snow L. Winters. 

“RESEARCH ARTICLE: Offshore Wind Turbine Visibility and Visual Impact Threshold 

Distances.” Environmental Practice 15, no. 01 (2013): 33–49. 

doi:10.1017/S1466046612000464.
ACCESS NUMBER: M10PC00098

 * P.I.’s affiliation may be different than that listed for Project Manager(s).