Download Environmental impact of Belgian offshore wind farms

Environmental impact of
Belgian offshore wind farms:
Learning from the past to optimise
future monitoring programmes
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
Operational Directorate Natural Environment
Steven Degraer
Delphine Coates, Jan Vanaverbeke, Jan, Reubens, Magda Vincx, Eric Stienen, Nicolas Vanermen, Kris Hostens, Sofie
Vandendriessche, Jozefien Derweduwen, Ilse De Mesel, Robin Brabant, Bob Rumes, Marisa Di Marcantonio, Alain
Norro, Francis Kerckhof, Jan Haelters, Laurence Vigin & colleagues
In collaboration with:
Ghent University, Marine Biology Section
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
Fisheries Research Institute (ILVO-Fisheries)
OFFSHORE WIND FARMS IN BELGIAN WATERS
C-Power
• 54 wind turbines (WT); total capacity: 325 MW
• Phase I: 6 WT (5 MW, gravity base foundations) operational since 2009
• Phase II: 48 WT (6 MW, jacket foundations) construction ongoing
Belwind
• 110 WT of 3 MW; total: 330 MW
• Phase I: 55 monopile WT + 1 OHVS
operational since 2010
• Phase II: 55 monopile WT in 2014
Northwind
• 72 WT of 3 MW; total: 216 MW
• Construction ongoing
Belwind
Northwind
Four more domain concessions
• 210-294 WT; total: 1243-1634 MW
• Two projects: environmental
permit granted
C-Power
Once all constructed...
• Total surface area: 238 km²
• Number of turbines: 446 - 530
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS EXPECTED
GUARANTEES FOR ECOSYSTEM INTEGRITY
Mandatory monitoring programme to ensure...
• possible mitigation or halting of activities
• understanding of impact processes to support future policy and management
Environmental issues to consider
• Underwater noise
• Hydrodynamics and sedimentology
• Electro-magnetic fields
• Hard substrate epifouling organisms
• Hard substrate-associated fish
• Soft substrate macrobenthos
• Soft substrate epibenthos and fish
• Seabirds
• Marine mammals (focus: harbour
porpoise Phocaena phocaena)
• Social acceptance
Morus bassana
THE CHALLENGE...
Basic and targeted monitoring
Basic monitoring
• Focus on a posteriori resultant effect
quantification
• Site-specific
• Observing rather than understanding
impacts
• Basis for halting activities
Phocoena phocoena
Balanus perforatus
Targeted monitoring
• Focus on cause-effect relationships
of selected, a priori defined impacts
• From observation-driven to
hypothesis-driven monitoring
• Understanding rather than observing
impacts
• Basis for mitigating activities and
future policy
Gadus morhua
SNAPSHOT EXAMPLES
Seabird avoidance, attraction and collision
Basic monitoring results
• Observations of species being attracted
• Observations of species being repulsed
SNAPSHOT EXAMPLES
Seabird avoidance, attraction and collision
Targeted monitoring theoretic framework
• Attracted species suffering an increased risk of collision
• Repulsed species loosing suitable habitat
SNAPSHOT EXAMPLES
Seabird avoidance, attraction and collision
Increased collision risk
• Less an issue for e.g. terns and auks
• Major issue for larger gulls
SNAPSHOT EXAMPLES
Seabird avoidance, attraction and collision
Ecologically relevant context setting needed
• Attracted seabirds may suffer significant losses at population scale
• Next step: improved feeding conditions?
For each 10 000 wind turbines in the North Sea:
SNAPSHOT EXAMPLES
Harbour porpoise escape and redistribution
Observed distribution
Prior to piling
Phocoena phocoena
During piling
Modelled distribution
During piling
SNAPSHOT EXAMPLES
Artifical reef effect: organic enrichment
Transect a
Transect b
SNAPSHOT EXAMPLES
Artifical reef effect: organic enrichment
Gravity based foundation
Number of detections
Small-scale distribution of cod (Gadus morhua)
pouting
Jassa species
Distance from foundation (m)
• Attraction of fish
– up to 29.000 individuals of pouting (Trisopterus luscus) per wind turbine!
• Attraction-production hypothesis
– Hard substrate epifauna is an important food source for pouting
SNAPSHOT EXAMPLES
Artifical reef effect: organic enrichment
Spatial extension incresing…
• At present: observable enrichment effect only close to wind turbines
• Future: extended throughout the whole wind farm?
time
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
Understanding as a basis assessment and evaluation
Positive?
Negative?
Seabirds
Food resources
Increased risk
of collision
Marine mammals
(Increased food
availability)
Temporarily
loss of habitat
Hard substrate
fish
Production
Attraction
Soft-sediment
fish
Higher survival rate
of larger fish
Increased predation
of smaller fish
Fouling
invertebrates
Net increased
production
Increased risk of
invasions
→ Basic and targeted monitoring needed…
LESSONS LEARNED FOR FUTURE MONITORING
Basic monitoring considerations
• Succession trajectory
• Climax condition not reached after six years…
• Continuation of long-term series for all ecosystem components
• Likelihood of impact detection (statistical power)
• Linked to research effort, data noise and impact size
• Scientifically underpinned research effort allocation in space and time
• Meaningfulness of impact size
• (Inter)national regulations setting the scene…
• Representativeness
• Natural and human-induced gradients: well-deliberated focus needed
• Cumulative effects
• Within offshore renewables
• Across human activities
LESSONS LEARNED FOR FUTURE MONITORING
Targeted monitoring considerations
• Targeted monitoring focus
• Hypothesised underlying cause-effect relationships are plentiful
• Well-considered selection of priority cause-effect relationships
• Artificial reef effect at the heart of targeted monitoring
• Structural, yet more importantly functional relationships to be disentangled
• Pelagic fish !
• Obvious scope for increased time- and cost-efficiency
• International collaboration strongly advised
Further reading and information...
WinMon.BE 2013 conference
Brussels, 26-28 November 2013
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Report launching
Presentation of Belgian findings
Thoughts for future monitoring
(Visit to the Belgian offshore wind farms)
• www2.mumm.ac.be/winmonbe2013
More information via www.mumm.ac.be
I will be around for further detailing…