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Beyond stereotypes – ecological and landscape solutions for offshore wind farms

Beyond stereotypes – ecological and landscape solutions for offshore wind farms. Dr Maggie Hill Countryside Council for Wales. Can we agree? There is much still to be discovered about the environmental effects of offshore wind farms . Photo courtesy of VESTAS Danish Wind Technology.

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Beyond stereotypes – ecological and landscape solutions for offshore wind farms

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  1. Beyond stereotypes – ecological and landscape solutions for offshore wind farms Dr Maggie Hill Countryside Council for Wales

  2. Can we agree? There is much still to be discovered about the environmental effects of offshore wind farms Photo courtesy of VESTAS Danish Wind Technology

  3. “We need to avoid the situation in the Netherlands where one faction wants to save nature and the other to introduce renewables. If you don’t bring them together it will be disastrous.” EWEA Vice-President Jos Beurskens, 2001

  4. Potential environmental effects of offshore windfarms

  5. Uncertainties – the main ones! • Birds – displacement, barrier effect collisions • Fish – electromagnetic effects; change in fishing effort • Marine mammals – underwater noise • Seascape – how evaluate, layout? • Cumulative assessments – how?

  6. Common Scoter Melanitta nigra

  7. Liverpool Bay common scoter aerial survey - Nov 2000

  8. Sharks, skates and rays • Will windfarm cables affect behaviour or populations? • Many species depleted in UK waters • Use inshore sandbanks for feeding, breeding, nursery areas • Lab tests show avoidance and attraction • Shielding and burial of cables

  9. Seascapes

  10. Stages of assessment Delineate seascape unit Visual analysis Describe - marine, coastline, hinterland Identify seascape character Evaluate – quality, value, capacity

  11. Dynamism and variability Scale and distance Different sea to land/land to sea Visual movement Historic and cultural aspects Functions and uses

  12. Visibility of Sea from Land Visibility = number of 1 km points visible from every 50 m pixel ONLY derived from points on land Sample points

  13. Existing offshore activities located in Liverpool Bay showing site of proposed wind farms

  14. ©BWEA

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