Čibuk 1 Wind Farm Environmental and Social Impact Statement Vetroelektrane Balkana D.O.O./Continental Wind Partners
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Čibuk 1 Wind Farm Environmental and Social Impact Statement Vetroelektrane Balkana d.o.o./Continental Wind Partners October 2014 Vetroelektrane Balkana d.o.o. Čibuk 1 Wind Farm ESI Statement Chapter A General Information 8 A1 General Introduction 8 A1.1 Main Project Characteristics 8 A1.2 Project Location 8 A1.3 Project Categorisation 9 A2 Outline of the Statement and Associated Documentation 11 A2.1 Contents of this Statement 11 A2.2 Documentation Associated with this Statement (Disclosure Package) 11 A2.3 Availability of the Impact Assessment Documentation 12 A3 Impact Assessment Approach 13 A3.1 Introduction 13 A3.2 Applicable International Environmental and Social Standards 13 A4 Applicable Legislation 17 A4.1 Introduction 17 A4.2 Local Regulation of Construction and Operation of Wind Farms 17 A4.3 Environmental Impact Assessment of Wind Farms 18 A4.4 Regulatory Controls on Overhead Power Lines 20 A4.5 Summary of Socio-Economic Administrative Boundaries and Regulatory Administration 21 A4.6 Relationship between International ESIA and Serbian EIA Processes 23 A4.7 Regulation of Protected Habitats and Species 24 A4.8 Noise Legislation 29 A4.9 Occupational, Health and Safety Law 29 A5 Scope of the Environment and Social Impact Assessment 31 A5.1 Overview of Scoping Study Process 31 A5.2 Scoping Study Report Contents 31 A5.3 Environmental and Socio-Economic Issues Identified 32 A5.4 Determination of the EBRD 32 A5.5 Determination of the Regulatory Authorities 33 B Project Technical Description and Project Alternatives 37 B1 Introduction to the Section 37 B2 Outline of the Project 37 B2.1 Project Rationale 37 B2.2 Site Location 38 B2.3 Project Timetable 40 B3 Description of the Main Plant and Processes 41 B3.1 Technical Features of the Proposed Wind Turbines 41 B3.2 Wind Farm Operations 43 B4 Wind Farm Infrastructure 45 B4.1 Overview of Support Infrastructure 45 B4.2 Associated Plant & Buildings 45 B4.3 Transport and Site Access 46 B5 Grid Connection 46 B5.1 Proximity to the Grid 46 B5.2 Wind Farm Power Distribution 47 Atkins 1 Vetroelektrane Balkana d.o.o. Čibuk 1 Wind Farm ESI Statement B5.3 Construction 48 B5.4 Concrete Batch Plant 52 B5.5 Decommissioning 53 B6 Compliance with International Best Practice 54 B6.1 Background 54 B6.2 Wind Farm BAT 55 B6.3 BAT Assessment 61 B6.4 Conclusions 66 B7 Project Alternatives 66 B7.1 Introduction 66 B7.2 No Project Alternative 66 B7.3 Alternative Locations 66 B7.4 Alternative Project Configuration for Čibuk 1 67 B8 Alternatives Site Access 67 B8.1 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Assessment 69 B8.2 Conclusions 69 C The Existing Environment 71 C1 Introduction 71 C2 The Physical Environment 71 C2.1 Geology and Hydrogeology 71 C2.2 Seismology 74 C2.3 Climate and Meteorology 75 C2.4 Landscape 77 C3 Ecology 82 C3.1 Introduction 82 C3.2 Available Background Information 82 C3.3 Survey Work 83 C3.4 Limitations to Survey 84 C3.5 Habitat Classification System 84 C3.6 Nature Conservation Evaluation 84 C3.7 Bats 91 C3.8 Birds 99 C4 Human Geography 116 C4.1 Socio-Economic Environment 116 C4.2 Land Use and Property 122 C4.3 Archaeology and Cultural Heritage 124 C4.4 Transport 125 C4.5 Noise 130 D Assessment of Impact 159 D1 Introduction 159 D2 Construction 159 D2.1 Ecology and Nature Conservation 160 D2.2 Landscape and Visual 165 D2.3 Traffic and Transport 168 D2.4 Noise 171 D2.5 Socio-Economic Impacts 172 D2.6 Health, Safety and Public Nuisance 176 Atkins 2 Vetroelektrane Balkana d.o.o. Čibuk 1 Wind Farm ESI Statement D2.7 Other Construction Impacts 177 D3 Operational Impacts 182 D3.1 Introduction to Operational Impacts 182 D3.2 Ecology and Nature Conservation 182 D3.3 Landscape and Visual 212 D3.4 Noise Impact 221 D3.5 Social-Economic Impacts 226 D3.6 Health, Safety and Public Nuisance 228 D3.7 Other Potential Operational Impacts 230 D4 Closure and Decommissioning Impacts 233 D4.1 Introduction to Closure and Decommissioning Impacts 233 D4.2 Noise 233 D4.3 Traffic and Transport 233 D4.4 Socio-Economic Impacts 233 D4.5 Health and Safety 234 D4.6 Other Closure and Decommissioning Impacts 234 D5 Cumulative Impacts 236 D5.1 Cumulative impact on birds and bats 238 D5.2 Cumulative impact on landscape and visual impact 238 D5.3 Cumulative impact of construction 239 D5.4 Socio-economic impacts 239 E Management and Mitigation 323 E1 Introduction 323 E2 Management and Mitigation during Construction 323 E2.1 Introduction 323 E2.2 Ecology and Nature Conservation 323 E2.3 Landscape and Visual 325 E2.4 Traffic and Transport 326 E2.5 Noise 326 E2.6 Socio-Economic 327 E2.7 Health, Safety and Public Nuisance 329 E2.8 Management and Mitigation of Other Construction Impacts 334 E3 Management and Mitigation during Operations 335 E3.1 Introduction 335 E3.2 Ecology and Nature Conservation 335 E3.3 Landscape and Visual 335 E3.4 Noise Impact 336 E3.5 Socio-Economic Impacts 336 E3.6 Health, Safety and Public Nuisance 337 E3.7 Management and Mitigation of Other Operational Impacts 340 E4 Management and Mitigation during Closure and Decommissioning 341 E4.1 Introduction 341 E4.2 Noise 341 E4.3 Traffic and Transport 341 E4.4 Habitats and Species 342 E4.5 Socio-Economic Impacts 342 E4.6 Health and Safety 342 Atkins 3 Vetroelektrane Balkana d.o.o. Čibuk 1 Wind Farm ESI Statement E4.7 Management and Mitigation of Other Decommissioning Impacts 342 E5 Monitoring Programme 343 E5.1 Ecology and Nature Conservation 343 E5.2 Noise 344 E5.3 Traffic and Transport 345 E5.4 Socio-Economic 345 E5.5 Landscape and Visual Impact 345 E5.6 Health, Safety and Public Nuisance 346 E5.7 Surface Water, Effluent and Land and Ground Quality 346 F Summary of Impacts and Control Measures 349 F1 Introduction 349 F2 Summary of Construction Phase Impacts and Control Measures 350 F2.1 Ecology and Nature Conservation 350 F2.2 Landscape and Visual Impact 351 F2.3 Traffic and Transport 353 F2.4 Noise 353 F2.5 Socio-Economic Impacts 354 F2.6 Health, Safety and Public Nuisance 357 F2.7 Emissions to Ground and Water 358 F2.8 Archaeology and Cultural Heritage 359 F2.9 Air Emissions 359 F3 Summary of Operational Phase Impacts and Mitigation Measures 360 F3.1 Ecology and Nature Conservation 360 F3.2 Landscape and Visual Impact 361 F3.3 Traffic and Transport 363 F3.4 Noise Impact 364 F3.5 Socio-Economic Impacts 364 F3.6 Health, Safety and Public Nuisance 366 F3.7 Electric and Magnetic Fields 366 F3.8 Electromagnetic Interference 367 F3.9 Traffic and Transport 367 F3.10 Ground and Water 367 F4 Summary of Decommissioning Phase Impacts and Control Measures 369 F4.1 Noise 369 F4.2 Traffic and Transport 369 F4.3 Socio-Economic Impacts 370 F4.4 Health, Safety and Public Nuisance 371 F4.5 Ecology and Nature Conservation 371 F4.6 Landscape and Visual Impact 372 G Further Information 374 G1 Bibliography 374 G2 Abbreviations 378 Atkins 4 Vetroelektrane Balkana d.o.o. Čibuk 1 Wind Farm ESI Statement List of Tables Table A.1: Relationship with the Local EIA 23 Table A.2: Serbian Noise Level Limits 29 Table B.1: Technical Characteristics of the Turbines 42 Table B.2: BAT Assessment Table 62 Table C.1: Review of Existing Views and Visual Amenity 80 Table C.2: Confirmed and Unconfirmed Species in the Project Area 95 Table C.3: Nature conservation evaluation of the four species of bat commonly recorded within the study area. 98 Table C.4: Full list of species of special interest and their qualifying criteria 102 Table C.5: List of Species of Special Interest: Recorded Within the Survey Area and Their Status within the Survey Area 105 Table C.6: Summary of target species flights recorded by Team 1 between January 2010 and October 2010 107 Table C.7: Summary of target species flights recorded by Team 2 between March 2010 and February 2011 108 Table C.8 Significance (nature conservation value) of the Survey Area for Species of Special Interest Based on Abundance (locally and regionally) and/or Flight Activity. 111 Table C.9: Species for which likely adverse effects can largely be excluded 114 Table C.10: Species for which likely adverse impacts from the proposed wind farm cannot be excluded 115 Table C.11: Nationalities in the Affected Areas (Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, 2002) 118 Table C.12: Employment and unemployment statistics per municipality (Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, 2011) 120 Table C.13: Employment by sectors per municipality (Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, 2011) 121 Table C.14: Noise Sensitive Locations 131 Table C.15: Measured Noise Levels 134 Table C.16: Noise Survey Summary 135 Table D.1: Potential construction impacts on the 11 species of special interest for which adverse impacts from the wind farm are possible 163 Table D.2: Wind Turbine Perception Distances 166 Table D.3: Potential operational impacts of disturbance and habitat loss on the 11 species of special interest for which adverse impacts from the wind farm are possible 186 Table D.4: Potential operational impacts of collision on the 11 species of special interest for which adverse impacts from the wind farm are possible 188 Table D.5: Identification of Receptors and Associated Potential Visual Impacts 213 Table D.3: Distance from Wind Turbine to Mramorak Structures 218 Table D.7: Wind Turbine Sound Power Levels 222 Table D.7: Calculated Noise Levels 222 Table D.9: Noise Impact Summary: Night Time 223 Table D.10: Noise Impact Summary: Day Time 223 Table D.11: Wind farm developments in the area of South Banat, Vojvodina 237 Table D.12: Overview of available information related to wind farm developments in the area of South Banat, Vojvodina 237 Atkins 5 Vetroelektrane Balkana d.o.o.