Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) of offshore wind farms

Environmental data on birds, fish, benthos and mammals form an important assessment basis for environmentally friendly and sustainable expansion of offshore windenergy.

The scope and requirements of surveys to monitor possible effects of offshore windfarms are laid down in our BSH standard for “Investigation of the Impacts of Offshore Wind Turbines on the Marine environment (StUK) and shall be taken into account for the environmental assessment to determine the suitability for offshore wind energy sites and in the approval procedures. Standard Investigation of the impacts of offshore wind turbines on the marine environment (StUK 4)

The biologists at the BSH examine the results of the StUK investigations and, on this basis, assess the impacts of offshore - windfarms on the marine environment. They work closely with scientists from various research institutions, and BSH supports a large number of research projects in order to incorporate scientific expertise into environmental assessments.

Link to related projects

Web application MARLIN

The development of offshore wind energy is constantly increasing our knowledge of the marine environment in the form of extensive biological data and information. The requirements for environmental assessments make it clear that these large amounts of data need to be evaluated across wind farms and over several years.

The web application MARLIN (Marine Life Investigator) is a specialised web application of the BSH to use biological data and information from offshore projects more efficiently for environmental assessments.

It supports participating users, such as offshore wind farm operators, in the delivery and automatic verification of marine biological data and in the provision of biological information and analysis.

Link Start MARLIN Web Application

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