Will they affect marine life?
There are three significant stages of a wind farm from the point of view of marine life. construction, operation and decommissioning. Construction and decommissioning have the potential to generate the most amount of disturbance, and the wind industry, as well as several marine conservation groups, are currently investigating these impacts on marine life.
However it is important that such impacts are considered in the context of all the other marine
activities such as fishing, shipping, oil and gas etc. In addition it is also of note that the duration of the construction and decommissioning will be about 6 months only. For the 20 year operational period there are no known impacts on marine life. Nonetheless the industry is actively investigating potential effects.
It has been suggested that the noise from the turbines travels underwater and would disturb sea life. But studies carried out on the impact of noise from existing offshore turbines note that the noise is very low frequency, and many species are actually unable to hear it.
Offshore Wind: The Environmental Implications (1/15/2002) The Utilities Project Volume 2. By Gero Vella, University of Liverpool
Click here to see reports from the ongoing monitoring of the environmental effects of the Horns Rev offshore wind farm in Denmark.
Monitoring during the construction and operation of the Nasrevet Wind farm in Sweden suggests that seals quickly habituate to construction activity and noise. (ref: Westerberg, H. (1999) Impact Studies of Sea-Based Windpower in Sweden. "Technische Eingriffe in marine Lebensraume.")
As with any other local impact issues these concerns must and would be addressed by the project Environmental Impact Assessment and more broadly across a region would be reflected in the Strategic Environmental Assessment.
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