Bronagh Byrne Environment and Consents Manager, UK Operational Wind Farms

Environmental Monitoring

DONG Energy is one of the leading energy groupsin Northern Europe. We are headquartered in Denmark

Our business is based on procuring,producing, distributing and trading inenergy and related products in Northern Europe.

We have approximately 7,000 employees and generated DKK 73 billion (EUR 9.8 billion) in revenue in 2013.

EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION

WIND POWER

THERMAL POWER

ENERGY MARKETS

SALES & DISTRIBUTION

Ploudalmezeau

BarrowBurbo

Gunfleet Sands 1+ 2

London Array

Walney 1 +2

Nysted

Horns Rev 1+2

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

UNDER DEVELOPMENT

IN OPERATION

Lincs

Anholt

Borkum Riffgrund 1

WoDS

Walney 2.5

Dutch portfolio

Westermost Rough

Burbo 2.5Borkum Riffgrund 2

Wind Farm in operation ~1.3GW

Borkum Riffgrund West

Heron Wind & Njord (Hornsea zone)

Irish Sea Zone

Gode Wind 1+2+3

Wind PowerAssets and Pipeline

~1.4 GW under construction

Pipeline totals up to 7GW

DONG Energy 15 Years in the Irish Sea

Objectives of my presentation

Why is environmental monitoring important to the offshore wind industry

Where has environmental monitoring fallen short in the past

What is the future for environmental monitoring at offshore wind farms

Environmental monitoring is key to sustainable development of the offshore wind industry

Establishing a baseline

Enhance our understanding of impacts

Consent Compliance

Images courtesy of CMACS

Environmental Monitoring Helps Reduce Consenting Risk

Environmental monitoring has provided us with a lot of valuable information

Benthic ecology Colonisation of structures Operational noise Scour development Coastal processes Suspended sediment concentrations

Images courtesy of CMACS

What does bird monitoring look like for a Round 2 Project

pre con post0.00

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9.00Lesser Black-backed Gull

springsummerautumn

Average densities of Lesser Black-backed Gull in the pre-construction (pre), construction (con) and post-construction (post) periods in the Survey Area 2008-2012

Boat based bird surveys May, July, August, September

BACI – Before After Control Impact

Approach to Environmental Monitoring Is Changing

Scale of development

Changing priorities

FEPA Licence vs Marine Licence

Future for Environmental Monitoring

monitoring must have a clear purpose in order to provide answers to specific questions where significant environmental

impacts have been identified

Proposed Monitoring of Red Throated Divers at Burbo Bank Extension

Issue: Uncertainty related to displacement of divers within Liverpool Bay SPA from proposed wind farm site during operation Species: Red Throated Diver

Approach: Monitoring scope to reflect a hypothesis driven approach for RTD populations covering:

1) Displacement effect, and 2) Change in density across the SPA

Methodology: Digital aerial surveys focussed on the wind farm site and an appropriate buffer area at a suitable resolution to address the displacement effect hypothesis

Lesser Black Backed Gulls Tagging Study

Proposed funding this year (2014) for the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) to tag lesser black backed gulls at the south Walney colony by DECC's offshore energy strategic environmental assessment (OESEA) .

Similar to project at Orfordness 2010 - 2014

DONG Energy have initially agreed with Natural England the potential for contributing to such a research project in place of non targeted project based monitoring.

Offshore Renewable Joint Industry Programme (ORJIP)

ORJIP is a collaborative joint industry project with 16 developers and 3 public bodies, funding research projects to better inform consenting authorities on the true environmental risk of offshore wind.

ORJIP research projects

1. Bird Collision Avoidance studyObjective: To improve evidence base informing bird collision avoidance rates to improve consenting decisionsDuration: 2.5yrs starting March 2014

2. Acoustic deterrent devicesObjective: Review and test efficacy of acoustic deterrent devicesDuration: 1.5 started expected to start September 2014

Further project scopes under development

Bird collision avoidance study

Objective To improve evidence base informing bird collision

avoidance rates to improve consenting decisions

Approach Install state of the art monitoring equipment in an

operational wind farm to monitor micro, meso and macro avoidance behaviours over 2-years

Data will improve collision risk models to provide greater certainty on the true risk of bird collisions

Site: Vattenfall’s Thanet wind farm, north of Kent

Duration: 2.5years, starting March 2014

Image: Andreas Trepte, www.photo-natur.de; The Telegraph 2008

Environmental Monitoring Box Ticking Exercise or Valuable Enterprise ?

Vital to the continued growth of the offshore wind industry

Use the lessons learnt from Round 1 and Round 2

Work together to maximise results