Bronagh Byrne, Environment and Consents Manager at DONG Energy will look at the value of environmental monitoring to the offshore wind industry and discuss how approaches to environmental monitoring are being improved.

1. Bronagh Byrne Environment and Consents Manager, UK Operational Wind Farms
Environmental Monitoring

2. DONG Energy is one of the leading energy groups
in Northern Europe. We are headquartered in Denmark
Our business is based on procuring,
producing, distributing and trading in
energy 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

3. Ploudalmezeau
Barrow
Burbo
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 2.5
Borkum
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 Power
Assets and Pipeline
 ~1.4 GW under construction
 Pipeline totals up to 7GW

4. DONG Energy 15 Years in the Irish Sea

5. 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

6. 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

7. Environmental Monitoring
Helps Reduce Consenting
Risk

8. 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

9. What does bird monitoring look like for a Round 2 Project
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pre con post
Lesser Black-backed Gull
spring
summer
autumn
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

10. Approach to Environmental Monitoring Is Changing
 Scale of development
 Changing priorities
 FEPA Licence vs Marine Licence

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. ORJIP research projects
1. Bird Collision Avoidance study
Objective: To improve evidence base informing bird collision
avoidance rates to improve consenting decisions
Duration: 2.5yrs starting March 2014
2. Acoustic deterrent devices
Objective: Review and test efficacy of acoustic deterrent devices
Duration: 1.5 started expected to start September 2014
Further project scopes under development

16. 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

17. 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