Underwater Noise and Licensing of Offshore Windfarms in the Netherlands. Sander de Jong Rijkswaterstaat Noordzee

Transcription

1 Underwater Noise and Licensing of Offshore Windfarms in the Netherlands Sander de Jong Noordzee Amsterdam, Friday

2 Offshore windfarms in NL - Today s Situation Round 1 2 windfarms operational (220 MW) offshore near Egmond (IJmuiden) Round 2 12 permits for the building of new windfarms available Financial support for just 3 of those windfarms (app. 720 MW) Low expectancy for remaining 9 permits 2

3 3

4 BARD/TYPHOON BUITENGAATS 300 MW AND THE WINNERS ARE BARD/TYPHOON ZEE-ENERGIE 300 MW ENECO Q MW 4

5 Offshore windfarms in NL - Today s Situation Round 3 Large areas designated for offshore windfarms No additional funding / subsidiary New Energy Policy Plan expected 2014/2015 Offshore Wind? 5

6 AREAS DESIGNATED FOR WIND BUT NO FUNDING ASSIGNED yet IJMUIDEN-VER BORSELE 6

7 12 PERMITS FOR OFFSHORE WIND KEY ISSUES IN PERMITS: SHIPPING AND HELICOPTERS and ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS 7

8 Shipping safety / efficiency 8 Wind op Zee

9 Helicopter-approach availability of the platform 9 Wind op Zee

10 Ecological impacts Application needs Environmental Impact Assessment All individual EIA-reports indicate no significant effects Cumulative effects (all 12 permits together) unclear due to gaps in knowlegde, therefore: An appropriate assessment (EC B&H directive) is needed 10

11 Ecological Headliners Natura 2000 Underwaternoise by pile driving Species: harbour porpoises and seals disturbed Habitats: fish-larvaea provide food for birds in the Waddensea Birds Species: Lesser Seagull colony Texel affected Some permits denied, others need mitigation measures 11

12 3 PERMITS DENIED too close to Lesser seagul colony Texel Helicopter approach Oil and Gas 12

13 MITIGATION -> permit conditions No pile driving during the fish-larvaea season No pile driving while seals (and their cubs) are migrating No pile driving allowed: 1 january 1 july No pile driving allowed in areas that do not overlap NB: just 1 windfarm applied not for pile driving but Gravity Based Foundation, therefore no sound mitigation was needed. -> Year Round building allowed 13

14 AREA WADDEN NOORD NATIONAL INTERFERENCE = RATHER SIMPLE AREA IJMUIDEN-VER AREA HOLLANDSE KUST 14

15 GERMAN SEALS AND HARBOUR PORPOISES 160 db(a) yearround INTERNATIONAL INTERFERENCE = VERY COMPLICATED! UK INSTALLING > 30 GIGAWATT!! BELGIANS EIA is BANDWIDTH 2-7 MW TURBINES INSTALLING TECHNIQUE? 15

16 Ecological impacts -> permit conditions No pile driving during the fish-larvaea season No pile driving while seals (and their cubs) are migrating No pile driving allowed: 1 january 1 july No pile driving allowed in areas that do not overlap Alternatives for pile driving should be looked at but can not be prescribed in the permit seems to be too expensive nowadays Future windfarms will probably have better business-cases (bigger=cheaper?) for alternatives but that is up to the permitholder to find out 16

17 Permit Conditions - International B DK GER UK (NL) Pingers (acoustic deterrents) UK Marine Mammal Observers NL (B+UK) Seasonal Restrictions for pile driving B DK GER UK (NL) Soft Start Ramp Up for pile driving Other examples: GER Noise limitation 160 db SEL within 750 m NL Harbour porpoises protection plan 17

18 FINDING and EXCHANGING INFORMATION IS ESSENTIAL FOR FUTURE WINDFARMS 18

19 Goals of Shortlist and Masterplan Verify the input of the appropriate assessment and feed in to permit conditions for Round 2 and Round 3: Fish-larvaea labtests in permit: 100% mortality within 1000 m shortlist: sole (tong) shows lower mortality (14% 400 m) Sea mammals (Zeezoogdieren) in permit: avoidance seals 80 km, harbour porpoise 12 km shortlist: tts seals ca. 50 km, harbour porpoise ca. 7,5 km Lesser seagull (Kleine Mantelmeeuw) model for impact-calculation is updated with flightspecs Underwater noise measurement needs standardization 19

20 Let s work together for a sustainable future! 20 Wind op Zee