The Offshore Power Portal: A Web-Based Repository to Improve Offshore Wind Knowledge Dissemination

Offshore wind is an emerging industry in the renewable energy domain. Multiple government and other agencies in the United States are increasingly trying to improve the awareness of general public on the topic of offshore winds. Moreover, although there are several offshore wind farms in other countries, the U.S. has only just begun to implement offshore wind farms off their coasts. Without proper knowledge of the benefits of these new giant wind structures there may be great opposition from several groups which may result in slower progress of this industry. In order to prevent opposition, it is imperative that the citizens of the U.S., especially those along the coast, have a full understanding of what offshore wind is, its benefits, and why it is important. To that end, a web-based knowledge portal, called the Offshore Power Portal, is being developed to educate the general public about all aspects of offshore wind in an easily accessible, ubiquitous, and simple-to-understand website. In the current paper, we describe some of the most important design elements of the website. This paper also presents the results from a user interface (UI) evaluation survey of our Offshore Power Portal. The UI evaluation was conducted using a survey consisting of 15 participants. Overall, our initial user interface evaluation of the website showed that the survey responders had a positive view of the website and found that the website will be effective in disseminating knowledge about offshore wind power.