Report of the Renewable Energy Session

Thomsen, F.1*, Mendes, S.2*, Debusschere, E.3, Farcas, A.4, Mortensen, J.5, von Pein, J.6, Whyte, K.7

1      DHI A/S, Denmark
2      Joint Nature Conservation Committee, UK
3      Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), Belgium
4      Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (Cefas), UK
5      DHI A/S, Denmark
6      Hamburg University Of Technology, Germany
7      Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland (BioSS), UK

* Session Chairs and Corresponding Authors; E-mail: frank.thomsen@dhi.com – sonia.mendes@jncc.gov.uk

This report can be referenced as: Thomsen, F., Mendes, S., Debusschere, E., Farcas, A., Mortensen, J., von Pein, J., and Whyte, K.(2023). Report of the Renewable Energy Session, OCEANOISE2023, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Barcelona, Spain, 22-26 May. Retrieved from https://2023.oceanoise.com

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Talks

– Jonas von Pein: How loud will it be? Scaling laws for offshore pile driving noise
– Elisabeth Debusschere: The effects of piling on pelagic fish communities using bottom moored echosounders
– Jonas Mortensen: A new methodology to manage and regulate construction noise related impacts of US offshore wind farms
– Katherine Whyte: Seals and offshore wind farm construction: synthesis and future directions
– Frank Thomsen: Can offshore wind farm noise affect hearing and behaviour of marine mammals?
– Adrian Farcas: Potential effects of underwater noise from floating offshore wind on marine mammals and fishes

Open issues to address

  • How are the scaling laws for larger piles being validated with field measurements?
  • How will effects on fishes and invertebrates potentially scale up as windfarms get larger and more numerous?
  • Has there been progress in calibrating and validating agent-based models for noise risk assessments (e.g., movement behavioural response)?
  • How do animal behavioural responses to offshore wind farm installation and operation vary with factors such as location, habitat type, species?
  • Is there more field based evidence on the effects of operational noise from large turbines and large-scale wind farms on the behaviour of marine mammals?
  • Do we have more information on the essential parameters to investigate the behavioural response of marine mammals to operational noise (e.g. effective quiet)?
  • Floating offshore wind noise measurements: how different to fixed foundations are the noise characteristics of installation and operation?