The Ocean Renewable Energy Symposium at the 32nd International Ocean Offshore and Arctic Engineering (OMAE2012) conference held in Rio de Janeiro had a number of papers devoted to wind energy research and development. The first Wind Energy session on day 1 of the conference showcased five papers that were extensively discussed, and those along with select other papers formed the basis of this Special Section on Offshore Wind Energy. We believe that these papers captured key aspects of technology research and development as discussed at the conference. The papers were reviewed for the journal and contents were updated for this publication.

Marine renewable energy has acquired global visibility with large-scale community awareness towards sustainable energy production and consumption. Among various marine sources for energy, offshore wind energy development has been gaining momentum at a rapid pace. Offshore wind energy research straddles the boundary between marine hydrokinetics and meteorology/atmospheric specialization. Indeed,...

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