The review paper "Assessing environmental impacts of offshore wind
farms: lessons learned and recommendations for the future" has
recently been published.
Citation:
Bailey,
H., Brookes, K.L. and Thompson, P.M. (2014) Assessing environmental
impacts of
offshore wind farms: Lessons learned and recommendations for the
future. Aquatic Biosystems, 10:
8. DOI:10.1186/2046-9063-10-8.
Abstract:
Offshore wind power provides a valuable source of renewable energy
that can help reduce carbon emissions. Technological advances are
allowing higher capacity turbines to be installed and in deeper
water, but there is still much that is unknown about the effects on
the environment. Here we describe the lessons learned based on the
recent literature and our experience with assessing impacts of
offshore wind developments on marine mammals and seabirds, and make
recommendations for future monitoring and assessment as interest in
offshore wind energy grows around the world. The four key lessons
learned that we discuss are: 1) Identifying the area over which
biological effects may occur to inform baseline data collection and
determining the connectivity between key populations and proposed
wind energy sites, 2) The need to put impacts into a population
level context to determine whether they are biologically
significant, 3) Measuring responses to wind farm construction and
operation to determine disturbance effects and avoidance responses,
and 4) Learn from other industries to inform risk assessments and
the effectiveness of mitigation measures. As the number and size of
offshore wind developments increases, there will be a growing need
to consider the population level consequences and cumulative impacts
of these activities on marine species. Strategically targeted data
collection and modeling aimed at answering questions for the
consenting process will also allow regulators to make decisions
based on the best available information, and achieve a balance
between climate change targets and environmental legislation.
--
-------------------------------------------
Dr. Helen Bailey
Research Assistant Professor
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND CENTER
FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
Chesapeake Biological Laboratory
146 Williams Street
P.O. Box 38
Solomons, MD 20688
Tel: (1) 410-326-7284 / 240-237-8751
Website: www.umces.edu/cbl/faculty/hbailey
-------------------------------------------