General introduction - NTUA



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Draft Assessment of Impacts from Energy and Resource Extraction

on the European Coasts

30/11/2011

Prepared by: Kimon Hadjibiros, Christianna Lioumi, Mata Aravantinou

Scientific consultation : Vicky Tsoukala

Organisation: EEA, NTUA

1. Key messages

➢ Offshore wind, wave and tidal energy activities are much more developed in the North-East Atlantic than in the other European marine regions; particularly offshore wind energy presents a strong growth over the recent years in the Baltic Sea as well; in the next decades, these trends are expected to continue and strengthen. On the other hand, in the North Mediterranean and the Black Sea, offshore renewable energy seems to develop less rapidly.

➢ Negative environmental impacts from offshore renewable energy activities are not expected to be heavy.

➢ The Black Sea is probably on the verge of becoming in the future a major oil and gas producing marine region; environmental impacts from this development should be carefully examined.

➢ Offshore sand and gravel extraction activities are mainly observed in the Baltic Sea and in the North – East Atlantic; a rise is expected because of the increasing demand mostly in sand for beach nourishment; environmental impacts should be carefully examined.

➢ The North Sea Super-Grid and, more generally, the European offshore grids are acknowledged as central to achieving Europe’s goals of energy security and sustainability; their environmental impacts are not expected to be heavy.

➢ Offshore installations may cause various impacts during the construction, operation and decommissioning phases; although impacts are usually meant to be negative, associated with various effects on seabed, biodiversity, landscape and human activities, some positive effects are also noticed like creation of new ecological habitat or increase of tourist interest.

➢ Experience up to now shows that the negative impacts from offshore renewable energy activities may considerably decrease when impact studies and relevant rules are strictly fulfilled together with systematic monitoring. Such rules depend on the kind of the installation and may concern the distance from the shore, the specific characteristics of the respective technologies etc.

2. General introduction

Any installation or activity of resource extraction in the sea is potentially expected to cause various impacts on the environment and interactions with the socio-economic sectors. The impacts may be local or global, negative or positive and are depended on the kind, size, position of installations and the vulnerability of the area against various factors. Table 1 below presents an overview of the different kinds of resource extraction in coastal and marine areas as well as respective potential impacts. Many of the impacts are not easily recordable and may often be underestimated due to the difficulties in observing, measuring or estimating them in the middle of the sea. Relevant studies are providing indications on the most important impacts of the specific installations; a more systematic monitoring and registration of the relevant impact parameters by the countries or the international organizations would offer a better knowledge both on the state and on the appropriate common policy framework in Europe. One could say, for example, that in a sustainability perspective resource extraction activities with “no” in the “renewability” column of the Table 1 should be minimized.

|Kind of resource |Product from marine |Renewability of |Industrial treatment |Potential |Potential |

| |resource |resource |of product |positive impacts |negative impacts |

| | | | |(on global | |

| | | | |change) | |

|Energy |Oil |No |Yes |No |High |

| |Gas |No |Yes |No |Medium |

| |Wind energy |Yes |No |High |Low |

| |Wave energy |Yes |No |Medium |Low |

| |Tidal energy |Yes |No |Medium |Low |

|Organic products |Biofuel from |Yes |Yes |Medium |Medium |

| |aquaculture | | | | |

| |Fish from aquaculture |Yes |No |No |Low |

| |Plant biomass from |Yes |No |No |Low |

| |natural eutrofication | | | | |

| |Fish from fishing |Yes |No |No |Medium |

|Non organic |Sand, gravel from |No |No |No |Medium |

|products |marine aggregates | | | | |

| |Salt from sea |Yes |Yes |No |Low |

| |saltworks | | | | |

| |Freshwater from |Yes |Yes |Low (on water |Low |

| |desalination | | |resources) | |

Table 1. Kinds of resource extraction in coastal and marine areas

3. Current status of European seas and activities

3.1. North – East Atlantic

3.1.1. Introduction

The part of the marine region of the North – East Atlantic related to coastal zones of the European Union member states is separated in 4 sub-regions: the Greater North Sea, the Celtic Sea, the Bay of Biscay and the Iberian Coast. Much of the coastal area in the North-East Atlantic is densely populated and highly industrialized; most activities and installations are in the maritime and coastal areas of the North Sea and the Bay of Biscay. Activities include industries, big ports, fishing, sand and gravel extraction, offshore renewable energy developments such as wind, wave and tidal energy activities etc; the exploration of oil and gas reserves is observed mainly in the North Sea ().

The biological systems of the North Sea are rich and complex. Approximately 230 species of fishes inhabit the area; some 10 million seabirds are present at most time of the year; marine mammals occur regularly over large parts of the North Sea. ( ).

In the Celtic Sea the large range of habitats in the region supports a diverse fish fauna. The region has a large number of areas attractive to seabirds and waterfowl. The common or harbor seal and the grey seal are widely distributed throughout the region. The waters around Ireland and to the west of Scotland support a variety of cetaceans. ( ).

In the Biscay and Iberian Sea the ecosystems are rich, supporting an abundant fish fauna and presenting a particular importance for migratory birds. About 700 species of fish are present in the Biscay and Iberian Sea; the majority is species living near the bottom of the sea with limited geographical range, unless they are deep-water species. A large variety of marine mammals, both boreal and temperate, have been reported in the region, including 30 species of cetaceans and 7 species of seals ( ).

Eutrophication appears in more than 100 areas of the North-East Atlantic, mainly in some coastal zones, embayments and estuarine areas. For example, there has been a considerable increase in phytoplankton biomass over the last decade in certain regions of the North-East Atlantic, particularly over the winter months. Increased phytoplankton biomass may be an indicator of eutrophication. However, similar patterns of change have been found in both coastal and offshore waters; particularly, a significant increase in phytoplankton biomass has been found in both heavily anthropogenically-impacted coastal waters and the comparatively less-affected open North Sea despite significantly decreasing trends in nutrient concentrations. The increase in biomass appears to be linked to warmer temperatures and to the fact that the waters are also becoming clearer (i.e., less turbid), thereby allowing the normally light-limited coastal phytoplankton to more effectively utilise lower concentrations of nutrients. These results indicate that, in some cases, climatic variability and water transparency may be more important than nutrient concentrations to phytoplankton production ().

3.1.2. Previous and Present Activities

3.1.2.1. Wind Energy

In the North-East Atlantic Ocean the interest in wind farms is much more intense than in other marine regions of Europe, mainly due to the higher wind capacity available but also to favorable economic situations and social attitudes.

The highest average wind speed (>=9m/s) is observed in the Celtic Sea, west of Ireland and UK; in the other parts of the Celtic Sea and in the North Sea the average wind speed is about 8-9m/s; in the Irish Sea, the English Channel and in the Bay of Biscay is about 6-7m/s (). The data set covers locations situated 50 to 100 km away from the shoreline of EU-25 ().

In the North – East Atlantic there are 35 generating power wind farms; 14 of them are in UK with 1931.6 MW total power, 11 are in Denmark with 500.18 MW , 3 in Germany with 69.5 MW, 4 in Netherlands with 246.8 MW, 2 in Belgium with 195 MW and 1 in Ireland with 25.2 MW ().

3.1.2.2. Wave Energy

The largest wave energy potential in the world is encountered in the Atlantic Ocean and in the Pacific Ocean (middle latitudes); the energy density diminishes close to the land since the waves are hindered by islands and mainland.

In the North-East Atlantic Ocean the interest in projects capturing the wave energy is much more intense than in other marine regions of Europe mainly due to the higher wave capacity available. Specifically, the highest wave (>=3m) is observed in the Celtic sea, west of Ireland and UK, and in the Bay of Biscay offshore of Spain (Corana); in other parts of these sub-regions the wave height is 2-3m, in the North Sea is mostly 1.5-2 m and in the Irish Sea 1-1.5m ( ).

The most important wave energy activities are situated in Scotland, Denmark, Ireland, Norway and Spain; some of them are more significant in terms of size and effects while others are smaller or still in the planning or development stage. Some progress is also recently observed in Belgium (). The highest percentage is concentrated in Scotland with some installations like the Oyster 800 (3 devices) at 0.8MW and planned to be at 2.4MW on 2013. (, ). Moreover there are the Pelamis 750 and the Limpet 500 in Scotland and in Hatshol of Denmark respectively (, ), ) .

At present (2011), only Denmark, UK (Scotland) and Spain (Mutriku OWC) have connected their prototypes to their national grid (). The first commercial scale wave energy plant Limpet 500 was commissioned for the Isle of Islay (Scotland) in 2000 and has been operating steadily for over a decade, providing a reliable source of electricity to the Isle of Islay ().

Table 2. Some significant Wave Power projects in the North East Atlantic Ocean

|Country |Installation / Project |Operating / Under |Planned |

| | |construction | |

|Spain |Santoña project | 0.04 MW (2005) |1.4 MW (not estimated) |

| |Calma | |50 MW (not estimated) |

| |Pasajes | |0.5 MW (not estimated) |

| |Galicia | |No data available |

| |La Guardia(Galicia) | |No data available |

| |Mutriku OWC (Basque Country) |0.3 MW (2011) | |

| |Wedge Project (Cantabrian sea) | |2012 |

| |WelcomE Project (Canary Islands) | |Depends on weather conditions |

| |Βimep (Biscay) | |20 MW (not estimated) |

|Denmark |Nissum Bredning(first in the world) |0.02 MW (2003) | |

| |Hanstholm |0.5 MW (2009) | |

|Scotland |Limpet 500 |0.5 MW (2000) | |

| |EMEC(test) | (2003) | |

| |Pelamis 750 |0.75 (2004) | |

| |Oyster 800 (3 devices) |0.8 MW (2011) |1.6 MW (2013) |

|Norway |Kvitsoy Pilot Project (Stavanger) |0.15 MW (2007) |Cancelled before construction |

|Ireland |Ocean Energy Test Site | (2006) | |

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3.1.2.3. Tidal Energy

The interest in projects capturing the tidal energy is much more intense in the North-East Atlantic than in other marine regions of Europe, due to the extended width and power of tides available in this sea ().

The highest mean tidal amplitude (>=1.9m) is observed in the English channel and in the Irish sea; the Celtic Sea and the Bay of Biscay have a 0.9-1.9m mean tidal amplitude; in the West side of North Sea (UK) the mean tidal amplitude is higher (0.9-1.3m) than in the South side (Netherlands) which is 0.3-0.9m. ().

The highest number of tidal energy installations occurs in UK, followed by France, Ireland and Norway; in UK (England) there is the SeaFlow (0.3MW) and the Pulse Stream 100 (0.15MW) (), while a number of lower power devices are also installed such as TGL (0.5 MW) and Atlantis Resources Corporation (1MW); additionally the Pentland Firth region (Scotland) is knowing a great development (, ). In France although the number of devices is not big there is since 1966 the La Rance of 240 MW. (, ). In Ireland there is the Seagen (1.2 MW) and in Norway the Hammerfest Strom company installed a 0.3 MW tidal turbine generator. (, ). All these countries have managed up to now to connect at least one of their projects to their national grid.

Table 3. Some significant Tidal Power projects in the North East Atlantic Ocean

|Country |Installation / Project |Operating / Under |Planned |

| | |construction | |

|England |SeaFlow project (North Devon Coast) |0.3 MW (2003) |Decommissioned |

| |Pulse Stream 100 (Immingham) |0.15 MW (2009) | |

|Scotland |Open Hydro | |200 MW (2010) |

| |(Pentland Firth) | | |

| |Hammerfest Strom UK Ltd (HS1000 technology, |2013 |10 MW (2011) |

| |Islay site) | | |

| |Hammerfest Strom UK Ltd (HS1000 technology, | |95 MW(2011) |

| |Duncansby Head ) | | |

| |TGL (Orkney) |0.5 MW (2010) | |

| |Atlantis Resources Corporation (Orkney) |1 MW (2010) | |

|Ireland | Marine Current Turbines (Strangford Lough) |1.2 MW (2008) | |

|France |La Rance |240 MW (1966) | |

| |French utility company EDF (coast of |2012 | ................
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