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Acknowledgements The IUCN Global Marine Programme and the authors wish to express their gratitude to the following researchers for providing valuable comments and inputs on Annexe 1 (Research on impacts; Review of the impacts of offshore wind energy on the marine environment) and on an early draft of Chapters 1-6: Ph.L Mathias Andersson, Stockholm University, (on noise impacts on fish) Dr Andrew Gill, Cranfield University, UK Dr Stephen Jay, Sheffield Hallam University, UK. Ph.L Åsa Romson, Stockholm University (on legal and regulatory issues) Dr Henrik Skov, DHI Water & Environment, Denmark (on Marine mammals and birds) We are also grateful to the participants in the “Stakeholder Meeting” held at IUCN Headquarters in Gland, Switzerland in October 2009, for their dedication in providing valuable inputs, including written comments from Glória Rodrigues (EWEA) and Hans-Ulrich Rösner (WWF Germany), for the preparation of this document. We also appreciated the continous support of Matthias Hansch, James Oliver, Carl Gustaf Lundin, Frank Plümacher and Francis Vorhies throughout the project, as well as the editorial work of Louise Johnson. We also thank E.On Climate and Renewables, Düsseldorf, Germany, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency for their financial support. iv GREENING BLUE ENERGY - Identifying and managing biodiversity risks and opportunities of offshore renewable energy
Executive summary In the relatively rapid development of offshore renewable energy, the issue of marine biodiversity is often not fully considered. IUCN has undertaken a joint project with the multinational energy corporation E.ON and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) to improve the environmental performance of offshore renewable energy projects by developing guidance to support best practice and fully integrate biodiversity considerations. The Greening Blue Energy project aims to facilitate well-balanced and sciencebased discussions on the impacts on the marine environment from offshore renewable energy developments. The guidance provides a synthesis of current knowledge on the potential biodiversity impacts of offshore wind energy on the marine environment. It is based on scientific evidence and experiences from offshore renewable energy development and other relevant sectors. The foundation of the document is a review of more than 1000 reports and documents, at least 400 of which are peer-reviewed articles published in scientific journals, and results are presented in a jargon-free and balanced way. It aims to be user-friendly as well as structured in a way to provide more detail for those that need it and ultimately to encourage improvements in the sustainability of the offshore renewable energy industry. Overall, the guidance promotes the consideration of sciencebased impact research, suitable for conducting, scoping and evaluating SEAs and EIAs, based on international and national standards. Potential impacts of offshore wind power development on the marine environment include disturbance effects from noise, electromagnetic fields, changed hydrodynamic conditions and water quality, and altered habitat structure on benthic communities, fish, mammals and birds. To date, evidence for negative impacts on the subsurface marine environment are strongest for the construction phase. However, long term disturbance of local marine ecosystems during the operational phase cannot be excluded, and some bird species may largely avoid the wind farm areas. Various mitigation measures can be applied to reduce the risk to local biodiversity, including difference in timing, location, design of system, and the use of measures to temporarily disperse affected species. Nevertheless, if offshore wind power development is well planned and coordinated, the local subsurface marine environment could even benefit from wind farms in several ways. Trawling, which is one of the most severe threats to the marine environment, including both fish and invertebrates, will be prohibited inside wind farms. Furthermore, the foundations of wind turbines, including the boulders that are often encircling them for scour protection, will function as so-called artificial reefs, locally enhancing biomass for a number of sessile and motile organisms. It has, moreover, been suggested that surfaceoriented offshore energy devices may function as Fish Aggregation Devices (FAD) for pelagic fish. All this shows that environmental impacts from offshore renewable energy projects need to be assessed with a comprehensive approach. As the global offshore wind energy industry further expands and continues to mature, companies and governments will benefit from increased knowledge and experience. Ongoing monitoring will be crucial in identifying how successful previous mitigation strategies have been in avoiding or reducing impacts on the marine environment. Future decisions can integrate new findings and mitigate new threats. By undertaking rigorous impact assessment and systematic environmental management, the industry will continue to learn through the plan, do, check, act approach, and apply continuous improvement to their practices and procedures. Through marine spatial planning, cumulative and synergistic impacts can be better managed, and impacts and opportunities for all sea users taken into consideration. Planning and development decisions made at this stage of the development of offshore wind energy will be setting a precedent for future developments, both in Europe and beyond, so it is imperative that shortcomings in research and knowledge are addressed as a matter of urgency. Identifying and managing biodiversity risks and opportunities of offshore renewable energy - GREENING BLUE ENERGY v
Page 1 and 2: Greening Blue Energy: Identifying a
Page 3: Greening Blue Energy: Identifying a
Page 6 and 7: About the Organisations IUCN IUCN,
Page 11 and 12: 1 Introduction 1.1 Background Incre
Page 13: considerations of other marine user
Page 16 and 17: Offshore wind energy overview Natio
Page 19 and 20: 3 Impact assessment This section pr
Page 21: 3.3.1 European legislation The EU E
Page 24 and 25: Key environmental issues Level of c
Page 26 and 27: Marine impacts 4.2 Managing impacts
Page 28 and 29: Marine impacts Foundation Types (co
Page 30 and 31: Marine impacts Fishing vessel leavi
Page 32 and 33: Marine impacts Annexe 1 - see Secti
Page 34 and 35: Marine impacts a wind farm has effe
Page 36 and 37: Marine impacts Figure 4: A summary
Page 39 and 40: 5 Conclusions and recommendations 5
Page 41: 6 Additional resources While the ne
Page 44 and 45: 1 Introduction A review of potentia
Page 46 and 47: will be prohibited inside energy pa
Page 48 and 49: 2002). Vertically oriented structur
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Page 52 and 53: ous nature may, however, only arise
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struction activities at multiple wi
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particular area, scientists recomme
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7.8 Noise and avoidance by sea turt
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species such as elasmobranches and
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may fly at altitudes lower than 20
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should be pointed out that the repo
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depending on the species (Dierschke
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Annexe 2 Legislation Contents 1 EIA
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2 Strategic Environmental Assessmen
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3 Marine Strategy Framework Directi
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Annexe 3 Brief on Wave, Tidal and C
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Figure 2: Example of wave converter
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impact of noise emissions on marine
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Pelc and Fujita (2002) raised conce
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ers. Renewable and Sustainable Ener
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Bio/consult A/S. (2000a). Horns Rev
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Edren, S.M.E., Teilman, J., Dietz,
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Wind Farm construction in harbour p
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Aquatic Sciences. 63:2603-2607 Lewi
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Peters, R.C., Lonneke, B.M., Bretsc
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cause versus effect. Oceanography a
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påverkas av ljud från vindkraft t
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