In the next decade, more than a quarter of Germany's energy is supposed to come from offshore wind farms. But what materials are available to build the turbines and their masts? Can they withstand the ravages of wind and waves? Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology are trying to answer these questions. They have developed a climate chamber to simulate the conditions and are using data from sensors on the North Sea to start setting some materials' standards.