Government looks to increase use of wind power to 50% by 2025 with most projects located offshore

BOSTON, MA, December 4, 2006 – Danish energy and environment government agencies have released their findings at the conclusion of an eight-year study on the impacts of the world’s two largest offshore wind farms, Horns Rev and Nysted, on the aquatic ecosystem including birds, fish, seals and benthic life.

These findings were released at the Final Results: The Danish Monitoring Programme conference held in Denmark on November 27-29.

Craig Olmsted, Cape Wind Vice President of Project Development, attended the conference and said, “Listening to the scientists at the conference who had done the studies it was really clear – offshore wind farms in Denmark have been good neighbors, to birds, fish and people.”

The Danish findings are contained in a report that has been made public entitled, “Danish Offshore Wind – Key Environmental Issues” dated November, 2006, it was prepared by the Danish Energy Authority, Danish Forest and Nature Agency, Dong Energy and Vattenfall (the companies that own the two offshore wind farms) and the report also contains commentary from the International Advisory Panel of Experts on Marine Ecology which gave the report a positive evaluation.

Summary of some key findings from the report, Danish Offshore Wind – Key Environmental Issues, all text below in quotes are directly from the report:

Future for offshore wind power in Denmark and the European Union, “The power source for the future”

The report confirms that both the Horns Rev and Nysted offshore wind farms will be doubled in size in the coming years.

“We have come a long way since the 1980s, when most electricity production was based on coal and when the acidification of forests and lakes by acid rain was the predominant theme in the environmental debate. Today wind power provides 20% of Danish electricity consumption. Within a few years, the wind power industry has grown to become a significant industrial sector providing huge benefits for exports and employment.”

“In the energy strategy for 2025 the Government expects to see a significant increase in the use of renewable energy in the years to come.”

“…wind power may be able to cover more than 50% of the Danish electricity consumption in 2025 out of which most is envisaged to be offshore.”

“At sea, wind resources are better and suitable sites are more readily available to enable these large projects to operate in harmony with the surrounding environment.”

“Offshore windpower can contribute significantly to achieving the EU goals of a 21 per cent share of renewable electricity by 2010, halting global warming and reducing our dependence on coal, oil and gas.”


Birds

“The Thermal Animal Detection System (TADS) provides empirical evidence that waterbird collisions are rare events. Collision risk modelling and bird tracking by radar as well as visual observations show that many waterbirds species tend to avoid the wind farm, changing flight direction some kilometers away to deflect their path around the site. Birds flying through the wind farm tend to alter altitude to avoid the risk of collision. Under adverse weather conditions, which were thought to be likely to increase collision risk, results show that waterbirds tend to avoid flying”.

“Radar studies at Horns Rev and Nysted also confirm that may birds entering the wind farms re-orientate to fly down between turbine rows, frequently equidistant between turbines, further minimizing collision risk.”

“Avian avoidance behavior of turbines minimized collision risk, and these early post-construction studies show that, despite very heavy common eider migration in the Nysted area, their avoidance of turbines at different spatial scales resulted in very low modelled collision risk…amounting at Nysted (with 95% confidence) to 40-50 common eiders on average per year, less than 0.05% of the annual hunt in Denmark (currently approx 70,000 birds).”

“The Danish research has developed valuable new tools for study of birds in relation to marine wind farms, and has provided insights into the flexibility of waterbird behavioural responses to the hazard of turbines suggestion that collision rates are likely to be less of a problem than often suggested.”

Both Danish offshore wind farms studied are situated in close proximity to European Union Special Protection Areas due to the abundance of birds in the area.


Benthic organisms

“Abundance and biomass of the benthic communities increased at the wind farm sites compared to the native infauna communities. A consequence from the change in community structure was a local increase in biomass at the wind turbine sites by 50 to 150 times”.

“An initial colonisation of high numbers of the common mussel was found at both wind farm sites.”

Mussels still predominate on the wind turbines below-water surface area at Nysted but their concentrations have subsequently been reduced at Horns Rev due to an increase in predators, particularly starfish.


Fish

“At both wind farm sites, fish were often found swimming around the artificial reef structures apparently searching for food and shelter”.

Yet fish populations at the wind farms appear to be similar to what they were before the construction of the wind farms.

“A likely explanation is that the hard substrate habitats at Horns Rev were still young and biologically immature at the time of surveying. Therefore, the reef effect at Horns Rev may become more pronounced in the coming years as colonisation and development of the biological communities progress. At Nysted, the effect was weak presumably because the benthic community consisted of a monoculture of large common mussels that are only moderately attractive to most fish species.”

“Investigations into the effects on fish and fish behaviour from electromagnetic fields were made at Nysted. Data have documented some effects from the cable route on fish behaviour indicating avoidance of the cable as well as attraction, depending on the species.”

Note on electric cables and fish: Cape Wind’s electric cables are proposed to be buried twice as deeply as those in Denmark. Because of the shallower cabling offshore Denmark, trawling / dragging fishing gear is prohibited in the offshore wind farms area (other types of fishing gear are allowed). In the case of Cape Wind, cables will be buried at sufficient depth to allow all existing fishing gear types to continue to operate on Horseshoe Shoal.


Seals and Porpoises

“The close vicinity [4 kilometers] of the Rødsand seal sanctuary to the [Nysted] wind farm and the fact that Rødsand is the only known breeding site for the grey seal in Denmark made Nysted a key site for the study of seals on land.”

“Five harbour seals and six grey seals were captured in the Rødsand seal sanctuary and a satellite tag was glued to the fur on top of the head. The tags stayed on until the seals moulted their fur during the following summer. Daily locations showed that the harbour seals remained within 50 km of the tagging site year-round, while the grey seals made extensive movements up to 850 km away from Rødsand to Sweden, Germany and Estonia.”

“Both wind farm areas were found to be part of much larger foraging areas used by the seals. No general change in behaviour at sea or on land could be linked to the construction or operation of the wind farms. The only effect detected on land was a reduction in the number of seals on land during pile driving operations at Nysted.”

“To protect seals and porpoises from exposure to the excessive noise levels close to the foundations, the pile driving force was slowly intensified (ramped up) and underwater acoustic alarms (porpoise pingers and seal scarers) were deployed at both Horns Rev and Nysted prior to each operation, in order to deter animals to safe distances during pile driving.”

“Only a slight decrease in porpoise abundance was found at Horns Rev during construction and no effect of the operation of the wind farm was seen. A clear decrease in the abundance of porpoises was found at Nysted during the construction and operation of the wind farm. The effect has persisted after two years of operation of the wind farm, with indications of a slow recovery.”


“Socioeconomic effects, positive attitudes in local communities”

“A sociological and environmental economic study reveals that both the local and national populations are positive towards the offshore wind farms.”

Survey results in the report indicate a positive attitude toward existing and future offshore wind farms in Denmark is held by about 80% of the general population, by almost 90% among residents who live closest to Horns Rev and about 75% for residents of Nysted.

“At both locations, respondents mentioned that they were highly surprised with the decision to place a wind farm in the area as they found that exactly this spot contained outstanding natural values.”

“The interviews reveal that there were two major concerns which caused the initial opposition [of the Horns Rev offshore wind farm]. Firstly, the respondents pointed to the decision-making process which was seen as highly centralised and with no local “co-decision” when it came to placing the wind farm. Secondly, there was a major concern that the wind farm would cause extensive visual intrusions and thereby result in a radical reduction in the number of visiting tourists. As time has passed the discontent with the decision process has worn off and the negative effect on tourism has not occurred thus resulting in reduced opposition.”

“Most opposition to offshore wind farms in Denmark appears to be related to local visual impact, although there have been concerns about possible environmental impacts raised particularly by fishermen and ornithologists. It would be interesting to see whether public attitudes to offshore wind farms will become more positive in the light of evidence from studies at Horns Rev and Nysted, such as summarized in this book, indicating little or no adverse effects on the environment at these sites.”

The Report found some apparently contradictory survey results, for example, more residents within view of the Nysted and Horns Rev wind farms disagreed with the proposition that future wind farms should be located out of sight from shore, yet most also said they would be willing to pay for offshore wind farms to be located further from shore.

The report, “Danish Offshore Wind – Key Environmental Issues”, can be downloaded online here