Habitat Regulations Assessment: Screening Report December 2016
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Hornsea Project Three Offshore Wind Farm Habitat Regulations Assessment: Screening Report December 2016 2616306 Expert Working Habitat Regulations Assessment: Screening Report Hornsea Project Three Offshore Wind Farm Habitat Regulations Assessment Screening Report Prepared by: NIRAS Checked by: Allen Risby, Rachael Mills, Jennifer Brack, Julian Carolan, Mark Edwards and Mira Rosten Approved by: Stuart Livesey DONG Energy Power (UK) Ltd. 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG © DONG Energy Power (UK) Ltd, 2016. All rights reserved Page i of 225 Liability This report has been prepared by NIRAS Consulting Ltd with all reasonable skill, care and diligence within the terms of their contracts with DONG Energy Wind Power A/S. NIRAS Consulting Ltd has exercised due and customary care in compiling this report, but has not, save where specifically stated, independently verified third party information. No other warranty, express or implied, is made in relation to this report. This report may not be used or relied upon by any other party without the express written permission of DONG Energy Wind Power A/S. Any communication regarding the content of this report should be directed to DONG Energy Wind Power A/S. NIRAS Consulting Ltd assumes no liability for any loss or damage arising from reliance on or misuse of the contents of this document, or from misrepresentation made by others. Pictures: © DONG Energy Hornsea Project Three (UK) Ltd., 2016. Front cover picture: Kite surfer near one of DONG Energy's UK offshore wind farms © DONG Energy Hornsea Project Three (UK) Ltd., 2016. Page ii of 225 Table of Contents 1. Introduction.................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Purpose of this report ............................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Project overview ....................................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Outline of the structure and contents of this report ................................................................... 5 2. The Habitat Regulations Assessment Process ......................................................................... 6 2.1 Legislative context .................................................................................................................... 6 2.2 The Habitat Regulations process ............................................................................................. 6 2.3 Roles and responsibilities ......................................................................................................... 7 2.4 Approach to screening ............................................................................................................. 9 3. Project Description .................................................................................................................... 10 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 10 3.2 Proposed Hornsea Three boundary ....................................................................................... 10 3.3 The Agreement for Lease area .............................................................................................. 11 3.4 Offshore infrastructure............................................................................................................ 11 3.5 Onshore infrastructure............................................................................................................ 22 3.6 Construction programme ........................................................................................................ 25 4. Environmental Baseline ............................................................................................................ 27 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 27 4.2 Benthic ecology ...................................................................................................................... 27 4.3 Marine mammals .................................................................................................................... 35 4.4 Offshore Ornithology .............................................................................................................. 47 4.5 Onshore ecology .................................................................................................................... 58 5. Identification of European Sites and Features ........................................................................ 61 5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 61 5.2 Potential impacts .................................................................................................................... 61 5.3 Initial Identification of sites and features ................................................................................. 67 6. Determination of Likely Significant Effect (LSE) .................................................................. 112 6.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 112 6.2 Assessment of Likely Significant Effect (LSE) ...................................................................... 112 7. In-combination Effects ............................................................................................................ 190 8. Summary of Likely Significant Effect (LSE) .......................................................................... 193 9. References ............................................................................................................................... 200 Appendix A: Migratory seabird collision risk assessment ............................................................ 207 Page iii of 225 List of Tables Table 3.1 Design Envelope: wind turbines. ............................................................................................ 11 Table 3.2 Design Envelope: monopile foundations. ............................................................................... 12 Table 3.3 Design Envelope: jacket foundation with pin piles. ................................................................ 13 Table 3.4 Design Envelope: jacket foundation with suction buckets. ..................................................... 14 Table 3.5 Design Envelope: mono suction bucket. ................................................................................ 14 Table 3.6 Design Envelope: gravity base foundation. ............................................................................ 14 Table 3.7 Design Envelope: floating foundation. ................................................................................... 15 Table 3.8 Design Envelope: scour protection. ....................................................................................... 16 Table 3.9 Design Envelope: array cables. ............................................................................................. 16 Table 3.10 Design Envelope: offshore accommodation platforms. ........................................................ 17 Table 3.11 Infrastructure required for High Voltage Alternating Current (HVAC) and High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) systems. .............................................................................................. 18 Table 3.12 Cables required per circuit. .................................................................................................. 18 Table 3.13 Design Envelope: offshore transformer substations............................................................. 19 Table 3.14 Design Envelope: offshore converter substations. ............................................................... 20 Table 3.15 Design Envelope: surface offshore HVAC booster .............................................................. 20 Table 3.16 Design Envelope: subsea offshore HVAC booster station(s). .............................................. 21 Table 3.17 Design Envelope: offshore export cables. ............................................................................ 22 Table 3.18 Design Envelope: onshore HVAC booster station. .............................................................. 23 Table 3.19 Design Envelope: onshore substation.................................................................................. 24 Table 4.1 Summary of benthic surveys undertaken within Hornsea Three ............................................ 28 Table 4.2 Population estimates of species in the former Hornsea Zone plus 10 km buffer recorded by monthly boat-based surveys in Project Two Year 1 (March 2011 – February 2012) and Year 2 (March 2012 – February 2013) (SMart Wind Ltd, 2015) .............................. 48 Table 4.3 European (and Ramsar) sites which overlap with the Hornsea Three onshore ECR corridor search area .................................................................................................................... 59 Table 5.1 Criteria used for initial identification of relevant European sites. ............................................ 61 Table 5.2 Anticipated effects of offshore components of Hornsea Three on relevant receptors ............ 62 Table 5.3 Predicted effects