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Consequently there can be increases in the number of shellfish, and the animals that feed on them, including fish and marine mammals. For example, wind turbine foundations may act as artificial reefs, providing a surface to which animals attach.
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As well as potential adverse impacts, there are possible environmental benefits. There are several reviews of the potential impacts of offshore wind energy on marine species e.g. The major environmental concerns related to offshore wind developments are increased noise levels, risk of collisions, changes to benthic and pelagic habitats, alterations to food webs, and pollution from increased vessel traffic or release of contaminants from seabed sediments. The novelty of the technology and construction processes make it difficult to identify all of the stressors on marine species and to estimate the effect of these activities. With technological advances in the future there is likely to be a continued increase in the size of offshore wind projects, but there are still uncertainties about the effects on the environment. By the end of 2013, operational wind farms were in an average water depth of 16 m and 29 km from shore in Europe (Figure 1). The average capacity of turbines and size of offshore wind farms have been increasing since then, and they are being installed in deeper waters further from the coast. The first commercial scale offshore wind farm, Horns Rev 1 (160 MW with 80 turbines of 2 MW), became operational in 2002. 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.Įfforts to reduce carbon emissions and increase production from renewable energy sources have led to rapid growth in offshore wind energy generation, particularly in northern European waters. 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. 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. 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. 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. Offshore wind power provides a valuable source of renewable energy that can help reduce carbon emissions.