co-ordination of ecological research accompanying the alpha
TRANSCRIPT
Kristin Blasche, BSH 1
January 24, 2012
Kristin Blasche Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH)
Co-ordination of ecological researchaccompanying the alpha ventus project
Kristin Blasche, BSH 2
Introduction – German North Sea EEZ
BSH is licensing agency foroffshore installations in the German EEZ
Total North Sea:25 permits granted / 1787 turbines
Installed turbines:alpha ventus: 12 turbinesBard I: 19 turbines (so far)Borkum West II: 17 foundations (so far)
Borkum Riffgrund II genehmigt 30.12.2011
Kristin Blasche, BSH 3
About alpha ventus• First offshore wind farm in the German EEZ • 45 km to island of Borkum, 70 km to coastline• Water depth 30-35 m• Provides energy for 50.000 households
alpha ventus and RAVE
About RAVE – Research at alpha ventus• A research initiative of the German Ministry for the Environment• Accompanying research at the alpha ventus test wind farm• Up to 50 million Euro funding in 5 years• 2010: 17 Projects with about 36 million Euro funded• More than 40 research partners
Kristin Blasche, BSH 4
Standard Investigation of the Impacts of Offshore Wind Turbineson the Marine Environment (StUK)
• 3rd edition of February 2007• Requirements for the Investigations before, during construction
and operation
For: • fish / benthos (bottom-living organisms)• Marine mammals (incl. underwater noise)• Resting and migratory birds
Standard Monitoring Program - StUK
Kristin Blasche, BSH 5
• Part of RAVE• Synergetic approach: StUK3-Monitoring and Research• May 2008 – April 2012 (extension planned till 2014)
Aim• gain a better knowledge about wind farm effects in time and space• evaluate the StUK3-monitoring
» co-ordination BSH» R & D contracts with
Ecological Research at alpha ventus
Kristin Blasche, BSH 6
Timeline (BACI-Design)
2008 20102009 2011 2012
Baseline study
Installation transformerstation Sept. 2008
Construction phase
Installation 12 turbines
Commissioning of theturbines finished
Year 1 and 2 of operation phase
Year 3 of operation phase
First observations
First results for short-term effects
Kristin Blasche, BSH 7
• What impact will noise during the construction and operational phases have on marine mammals and fish? What amount of underwater noise does the alpha ventus wind farm produce?
• How do migratory birds react on the turbines (collisions, avoidance)? Is thereany attraction caused by light?
• Do marine mammals and seabirds still use the wind farm area as a habitatduring operation (avoidance, habitat loss)?
• How does the habitat for benthic organisms and fish change in the vicinity of the foundations?
R & D topics
Kristin Blasche, BSH 9
First results – local and global scour
Multibeam (AV7, April 2010)
Multibeam (AV4, April 2010)
Kristin Blasche, BSH 10
First results - Megafauna
Cancer pagurus, WEA12Necora puber, FINO 1
The habitat in the close vicinity to the foundations changed from fine sandto a mussel covered sea bottom with scours to 6m depth.
First species who prefer rocky sediments were observed.
Taurulus bubalis, FINO 1
Kristin Blasche, BSH 11
1) Beam Trawl hauls in reference and project area• Spring 2008 (pre)• Spring & autumn 2009 (construction)• Spring & autumn 2010 (year 1)• Spring & autumn 2012 (year 3)
Small project area• No trawling over cables• No trawling next to other measurement devices• Distance to the turbines (Security reasons)
2) Set Net Monitoring during operation phase• 4 turbines / 2 of each foundation type• Spring 2010 (year 1)• Spring 2011 (year 2 - due to bad weather)• Spring & Autumn 2012 (year 3)
StUK3-Monitoring: Fish – Monitoring Design
Kristin Blasche, BSH 12
Transform: Square rootResemblance: S17 Bray Curtis similarity
legendSpring_ProjectSpring_ReferenceAutumn_ProjectAutumn_Reference
Similarity7282
2D Stress: 0,09
Comparison reference and project area - year 1 operation phase (2010)
• MDS: Abundances of characteristic species• Significant difference between fish communities concerning
• Saisonality (spring & autumn)• Area (Reference & project)
• BUT: high level of similarity (72%)• So far no detectable wind farm effect
StUK3-Monitoring: Fish – Results I
Kristin Blasche, BSH 13
• Same fish community including characteristic species• During construction phase lower number of species (plaice) with higher
abundances• During first year of construction higher number of species with lower
abundances
Comparison baseline, construction and first year of operation• spring data
StUK3-Monitoring: Fish – Results II
base construction operation
Abu
ndan
ce [I
nd./h
a]
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
base construction operation
Num
ber o
f spe
cies
8
10
12
14
16
18
base construction operation
Div
ersi
ty [H
']
1,3
1,4
1,5
1,6
1,7
1,8
1,9
Kristin Blasche, BSH 14
StUKplus: Pelagic Fish Species in alpha ventus
Mackerel
Herring and Sprat
Horse mackerel
Challenge:
• to detect and quantify the possible fish accumulationin the close vicinity to the foundations
• to detect long-term wind farm effects and to distinguish them from other effects (e.g. seasonal / interannual variety, climate change)
• New techniques, first offshore test 2011
Herring and Sprat
Horse mackerel
Mackerel
Herring and Sprat
Horse mackerel