Does offshore wind hurt the ocean, most of the answer is still unknown

Does offshore wind hurt the ocean

Does offshore wind hurt the ocean. A global review by Plymouth Marine Laboratory found that more than 86% of the ways an offshore wind farm could affect the things an ocean ecosystem provides for people, from fish nurseries to carbon stored in the seabed, are still unknown. Stephen Watson, the study lead author, said so directly in the laboratory own release.

Unfortunately, we have discovered that more than 86% of possible offshore wind farm impacts on ecosystem services are still unknown.

Stephen Watson, lead author of the ecosystem services study, Plymouth Marine Laboratory. Source 2.

That release, read directly rather than through a news summary of it, carries a detail most coverage of the study leaves out. It splits the impacts that have actually been studied by when they happen. During construction, 52% of the documented effects were negative and 8% were positive. Once a wind farm is running, the split narrows to 32% negative against 34% positive, close to a coin flip. The rest of the studied impacts in each phase were neutral or mixed. Building a wind farm does more measured harm than running one, the laboratory own numbers show.

The North Sea build out is accelerating regardless

That uncertainty is not slowing construction. Heriot Watt University researchers project the North Sea will carry about 19,400 offshore wind turbines by 2050, up from roughly 4,000 today, covering 11% of the entire sea basin, an area of about 58,500 square kilometers, up from about 1% today. The United Kingdom is projected to hold about 6,300 of those turbines, Germany about 4,300 and the Netherlands about 4,200, though the Netherlands would cover the largest share of its own waters, 19%, against 9% for the United Kingdom.

Rampion, off the English coast, and Sofia, on the ecologically important Dogger Bank sandbank, are 2 wind farms already running that show what that build out looks like on open water today.

I think for me, it's a bit misleading, because you will never be able to gain back what you destroy.

Clementine Mitoyen, post doctoral researcher, Institut de Ciencies del Mar. Source 1.

Berwick Bank shows what that argument looks like at 1 site

Berwick Bank, a wind farm planned off Scotland in the outer Firth of Forth, makes the argument concrete. SSE Renewables, the developer, plans up to 4.1 gigawatts of capacity, a measure of how much electricity the site could generate at once, enough power for over 6 million homes by its own account. No source counts how many birds an operating offshore wind farm has actually killed anywhere in the North Sea. What exists instead is a prediction, made before a single turbine is built.

The Scottish Government own assessment predicts Berwick Bank would kill 2,808 Guillemots in its first year running alone, more than the other 4 predicted species counts combined. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds says that prediction alone makes it the deadliest single wind farm for birds the organization knows of anywhere.

Berwick Bank is the deadliest single windfarm for birds we are aware of anywhere on the planet.

Anne McCall, RSPB Scotland director. Source 5.

More than 70% of Scotland own seabird species are already in decline, the group says, which is why a first year prediction this size draws attention before construction even starts. SSE Renewables says restricting fishing for sandeels, a small fish seabirds eat, is the environmental step it considers most effective, though it depends on government action the company does not control alone. Neither side disputes the other numbers. They disagree about what a climate benefit that is well measured is worth against an ocean cost that, by the lead researcher own words, mostly is not.