A new research performed by a group of researchers from Bureau Waardenburg, Koninklijk NIOZ and IMARES, at a wind farm located over North-Sea has found that it did not cause any damaging impact on fauna.
The research financed by NoordzeeWind, a partnership of Shell Wind Energy and Nuon, has concentrated its efforts to find the environmental impacts of an offshore wind farm near Egmond aan Zee (OWEZ on marine mammals, birds, fish and benthic organisms. The results of the research lately published on Environmental Research Letters online, a scientific website has narrated the findings of the researchers in the first two year.
The research performed by Prof. Han Lindeboom and other fellow researchers at Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) and Bureau Waardenburg, indicates that the wind farm scarcely made any adverse effect on the fauna of the location except on a few birds varieties that kept away from the wind farm location. The research found that the wind farm has actually provided a congenial environment for sea living creatures such as crabs, anemones and mussels thus lending its part for a better biodiversity. The researchers also have found that the wind farm offered a peaceful location for the marine mammals and fish in the otherwise active coastal location.
The researchers have discovered no ill effects on the benthic organisms that live in the sandy locations between the offshore wind turbines; they found an increase in the number of new species, biotic communities on the piled up rocks laid to support the columns and wind turbine piles in the two years. The research has discovered fish fauna of diverse types and also observed some positive changes at the location such as the wind farms offering protection to Cod. Among the birds, a variety of them including gannet avoided the wind farm while seagulls were not bothered but cormorants flocked to the place. Porpoises were more often making noise inside the location than outside of it. The model calculations estimated only a very limited number of birds colliding with the turbine blades.
The researchers have concluded that the after effect of a wind farm on various habitats and the intensity level is mostly related to the location of wind farm, and the deepness of the sea close to it. The OWEZ wind farm is placed in a complimentary location due to its limited population of birds. The rotating blades of the wind turbines did contribute to dislocation of some varieties of birds. The researchers have advocated for ear marking special areas exclusively for the installation of wind farms to minimize such effects.
Source: http://www.wur.nl/uk/