02-248 Koepelrapport 20121002
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Effects on birds of Offshore Wind farm Egmond aan Zee (OWEZ) An overview and integration of insights obtained J.C. Hartman K.L. Krijgsveld M.J.M. Poot R.C. Fijn M.F. Leopold S. Dirksen Consultants for environment & ecology Effects on birds of Offshore Wind farm Egmond aan Zee (OWEZ) An overview and integration of insights obtained J.C. Hartman K.L. Krijgsveld M.J.M. Poot R.C. Fijn M.F. Leopold S. Dirksen Commissioned by: NoordzeeWind 2 October 2012 NoordzeeWind report nr OWEZ_R_233_T1_20121002 Bureau Waardenburg report nr 12-005 Status: final report Report nr.: Bureau Waardenburg 12-005 / NoordzeeWind OWEZ_R_233_T1_20121002 Date of publication: 2 October 2012 Title: Effects on birds of Offshore Wind farm Egmond aan Zee (OWEZ) Subtitle: An overview and integration of insights obtained Authors: J.C. Hartman MSc. drs. K.L. Krijgsveld drs. M.J.M. Poot R.C. Fijn MSc. drs. M.F. Leopold drs. S. Dirksen Pictures cover: Large picture: K.L. Krijgsveld; OWEZ wind farm Upper small picture: J.D. Buizer; kittiwake Middle small picture: J.D. Buizer; gannet Lower small picture: K.L. Krijgsveld; K14 platform Number of pages incl. appendices: 144 Project nr: 02-248 Project manager: drs. K.L. Krijgsveld Name & address client: NoordzeeWind, ing. H.J. Kouwenhoven 2e Havenstraat 5B 1976 CE IJmuiden Reference client: Framework agreement for the provision of “MEP services” 30 May 2005 Signed for publication: Director Bureau Waardenburg bv drs. A.J.M. Meijer Initials: © Bureau Waardenburg bv / NoordzeeWind This report is produced at the request of the client mentioned above and is his property. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted and/or publicised in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the client mentioned above and Bureau Waardenburg bv, nor may it without such a permission be used for any other purpose than for which it has been produced. The Quality Management System of Bureau Waardenburg bv has been certified by CERTIKED according to ISO 9001:2008. 2 Preface ‘NoordzeeWind’ (a joint venture of Nuon Duurzame Energie and Shell Wind Energy) has built a wind farm consisting of 36 Vestas V90/3MW wind turbines off the coast of the Netherlands, near Egmond aan Zee. The turbines were built in the summer of 2006 and the site is in operation since January 2007. The main goal of this wind farm is to evaluate the economical, technical, ecological and social effects of offshore wind farms in general. Therefore a Monitoring and Evaluation Program (NSW-MEP) has been developed to gather the knowledge resulting from this project. This knowledge will be made available to all parties involved in the realization of large-scale offshore wind farms. Bureau Waardenburg and IMARES in cooperation have been commissioned to execute both the baseline and the effect study on the effects the wind farm has on flight paths, flight altitudes and flux of local and migrating marine birds as well as non-marine migrating birds. The bird research in OWEZ, before and after the realization of the wind farm, took place between 2002 and 2010. The research included studies on the effects of the wind farm on local birds (Leopold et al. 2011), as well as on flying birds (Krijgsveld et al. 2011) and also included an assessment of the cumulative effects of the hypothetical realisation of multiple offshore wind farms in the Dutch North Sea (Poot et al. 2011a). Finally, in 2010-2011, the situation at OWEZ was compared to the situation at a location much further offshore, at the gas production platform K14C (Fijn et al. 2012). In the report at hand, the knowledge gathered at OWEZ on the effects of the wind farm on birds is summarised and integrated in order to obtain a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge on potential effects of offshore wind farms on birds. The conclusions presented in this report can be used in the site-selection process for future offshore wind farms, to minimise the potential effects of these wind farms on birds. The Offshore Wind farm Egmond aan Zee has a subsidy of the Ministry of Economic Affairs under the CO2 Reduction Scheme of the Netherlands. 3 4 Table of contents Preface...............................................................................................................................................3 Summary ...........................................................................................................................................7 1 Introduction...............................................................................................................................13 1.1 Framework ...................................................................................................................13 1.2 Scope............................................................................................................................14 1.3 OWEZ area in relation to birds...................................................................................14 1.4 Effects of offshore wind farms on birds .....................................................................15 1.5 Bird research at or related to OWEZ.........................................................................15 1.6 Outline of chapters ......................................................................................................17 2 Overview of bird studies and main results............................................................................19 2.1 Abundance and disturbance of local seabirds .........................................................20 2.1.1 Introduction....................................................................................................20 2.1.2 Methodology..................................................................................................20 2.1.3 Results on abundance and distribution of local birds...............................23 2.1.4 Conclusions...................................................................................................38 2.2 Flight paths, fluxes and altitudes of local and migrating birds ................................39 2.2.1 Introduction....................................................................................................39 2.2.2 Methodology..................................................................................................40 2.2.3 Results on flight patterns of birds................................................................45 2.2.4 Conclusions...................................................................................................63 2.3 Comparison of flight patterns at OWEZ and a location further offshore................64 2.3.1 Introduction....................................................................................................64 2.3.2 Methodology..................................................................................................64 2.3.3 Results on fluxes and flight altitudes further offshore...............................67 2.3.4 Conclusions...................................................................................................76 2.4 Cumulative effects.......................................................................................................78 2.4.1 Introduction....................................................................................................78 2.4.2 Methodology..................................................................................................78 2.4.3 Results on cumulative effects .....................................................................87 2.4.4 Conclusions...................................................................................................92 3 Comparing two types of visual observations for birds offshore: the panorama scan and ESAS protocols..............................................................................95 5 3.1 Introduction...................................................................................................................95 3.2 Species composition ...................................................................................................98 3.3 Flight altitudes ........................................................................................................... 103 3.4 Densities.................................................................................................................... 106 3.5 Conclusions and recommendations....................................................................... 109 4 Integration of results ............................................................................................................ 111 4.1 Avoidance and disturbance..................................................................................... 111 4.1.1 Overall avoidance figures..........................................................................111 4.1.2 Species-specific avoidance.......................................................................112 4.1.3 Conclusions.................................................................................................116 4.2 Patterns in fluxes / flight altitudes at the Dutch North Sea................................... 117 4.2.1 Species composition ..................................................................................120 4.2.2 Flux...............................................................................................................121