moray offshore renewables ltd Developing Wind Energy In The Outer Moray Firth Environmental Impact Assessment Scoping Report Eastern Development Area Offshore Wind Farm Infrastructure: Offshore Wind Turbines, Substations & Interarray Cables. Moray Offshore Renewables Limited Copyright © 2010 Moray Offshore Renewables Ltd All pre-existing rights reserved. Liability In preparation of this document Moray Offshore Renewables Limited has made reasonable efforts to ensure that the content is accurate, up to date and complete for the purpose for which it was contracted. Moray Offshore Renewables Limited makes no warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of material supplied by the client or their agent. Other than any liability on Moray Offshore Renewables Limited detailed in the contracts between the parties for this work Moray Offshore Renewables Limited shall have no liability for any loss, damage, injury, claim, expense, cost or other consequence arising as a result of use or reliance upon any information contained in or omitted from this document. Any persons intending to use this document should satisfy themselves as to its applicability for their intended purpose. The user of this document has the obligation to employ safe working practices for any activities referred to and to adopt specific practices appropriate to local conditions. ii Executive Summary EDP Renováveis (EDP) and SeaEnergy Renewables Limited (SERL) have formed the partnership Moray Offshore Renewables Limited (MORL), which on 8th January 2010 was awarded a Zone Development Agreement by The Crown Estate to develop zone 1 of the nine UK Round 3 offshore zones. Zone 1 is located in the outer Moray Firth, within the UK Renewable Energy Zone (REZ). Through the zone appraisal process MORL has produced the zone development strategy which determines the phasing by which areas within the zone will be developed and consented. As a result of this review MORL has prioritised the eastern section of the zone as the focus for the first stage of development. Investigations into the potential for development of the western section of the zone are in progress and are anticipated to be concluded in 2012. The Environmental Impact Assessment process for the Western Development Area is anticipated to commence in 2013. MORL propose to develop up to 1.14GW of offshore wind within the eastern development area of the zone. The wind farm development area covers approximately 296 km2 and is located approximately 22 km to the nearest coastline which is east of the Highlands coastline in Scotland. It is anticipated to consist of approximately 200 turbines and have a potential generation capacity of 1- 1.14GW. The proposed development area was identified following a study of the defined spatial constraints within the zone. This scoping report has two purposes: 1. To gather further information on constraints to siting wind farms and assist identify sites within the development area; and 2. To seek the opinion of statutory and non-statutory consultees on the scope of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) which will be submitted to support the application for the consents required for the construction and operation of wind farms in the development area. It should be noted that this scoping report only covers the wind turbines, substations and inter-array cables. Although MORL expects to consent the Offshore Transmission Operator (OFTO) infrastructure (i.e. OFTO offshore substation, offshore export cable, onshore export cable and onshore substation), these are not discussed in detail within this scoping report. A separate scoping report will be prepared for these offshore and onshore works at a later date when more details of the cable routes and onshore substation location are known. The turbines within the eastern development area will contribute to the Scottish Government’s target of generating 50% of Scottish electricity demand from renewable sources by 2020. The project will offset the emission of greenhouse gases, in line with the UK’s commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. This scoping report presents detail regarding the baseline environment in and around the proposed development area. This report also identifies potential impacts that may arise as a result of this development, directly, cumulatively with other offshore wind farms and in combination with other developments. Studies and surveys are proposed in order to inform the EIA process and preliminary discussion on potential mitigation and monitoring measures is included. iii Moray Offshore Renewables Limited Acknowledgements Moray Offshore Renewables Limited would like to thank the following people/organisations for their assistance and contributions to the preparation of this scoping report: ABP Marine Environment Research Limited Anatec Ltd Brown & May Marine Limited Malcolm Spaven Natural Power Prof. Paul Thomson, University of Aberdeen RPS Senergy – Survey and Geoengineering iv Moray Offshore Renewables Limited Contents 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 The Developers 4 1.1.1 Moray Offshore Renewables Limited (MORL) 4 1.1.2 EDP Renováveis 4 1.1.3 SeaEnergy Renewables Ltd 5 1.2 National Policy and Offshore Wind Development 5 1.3 The Round 3 process 5 1.3.1 Strategic Environmental Assessment 6 1.4 Regulatory and Policy Background 7 1.5 OFTO Process 9 2 Project Description .................................................................................................................... 10 2.1 Objectives of the development 10 2.2 Clean Energy Generation / Electricity Supply 10 2.3 Development Area Location 10 2.4 Site Selection 10 2.5 The Proposed Scheme 11 2.5.1 Timeline 11 2.5.2 Offshore Wind Turbines 13 2.5.3 Offshore Wind Farm Infrastructure 13 2.5.4 Offshore Transmission Infrastructure 15 2.5.5 Meteorological Masts and Other Monitoring Equipment 16 2.6 Wind Farm Construction 17 2.6.1 Environmental Management 17 2.6.2 Construction 17 2.7 Wind Farm Operation 18 2.7.1 Access to Sites 18 2.7.2 Lighting and Marking 18 2.7.3 Wind Farm Control 19 2.7.4 Wind Farm Inspection and Maintenance 19 2.8 Operation Management (Environmental) 20 2.9 Wind Farm Decommissioning 20 2.10 Ports & Harbours 20 3 Cumulative and In-combination Impacts ................................................................................... 21 4 Consultation .............................................................................................................................. 22 4.1 Relationships and Stakeholder Engagement 22 5 Preliminary Environmental Considerations ............................................................................... 23 5.1 Physical Environment 23 5.1.1 Data Sources 23 v Moray Offshore Renewables Limited 5.1.2 Physical Environment 24 5.1.3 Data Gaps 32 5.1.4 Environmental Impact Scoping 33 5.2 Biological Environment 42 5.2.2 Benthic Ecology 43 5.2.3 Fish and Shellfish Ecology 52 5.2.4 Marine Mammals 61 5.2.5 Ornithology 70 5.2.6 Designated Sites 83 5.3 Human Environment 94 5.3.2 Commercial Fisheries 96 5.3.3 Shipping & Navigation 100 5.3.4 Civil Aviation 107 5.3.5 Ministry of Defence 109 5.3.6 Telecommunications 112 5.3.7 Marine Waste Disposal, Dumping and Dredging 112 5.3.8 Offshore Oil and Gas 113 5.3.9 Subsea Cables and Pipelines 115 5.3.10 Seascape, Landscape and Visual Receptors 117 5.3.11 Archaeology and Cultural Heritage 124 5.3.12 Socio-economics 129 5.3.13 Offshore Wind Farms 132 5.4 Structure of EIA 134 6 References .............................................................................................................................. 135 vi Moray Offshore Renewables Limited Figures Figure 1-1: Round 3 zones (Moray Firth zone highlighted in red) 2 Figure 1-2: Location of the eastern and western development areas for offshore wind turbines. Please note that OFTO infrastructure is not included on this figure as the grid connection has yet to be agreed 3 Figure 2-1: Illustrative timescale for the development 12 Figure 5-1: Bathymetry of the proposed development area. 25 Figure 5-2: Annual and Seasonal Wind Rose Data for the Moray Firth 28 Figure 5-3: Geophysical survey transect lines 38 Figure-5-4: Deployment Locations of Metocean Survey Equipment in the Zone. 40 Figure 5-5: Spawning grounds in the outer Moray Firth. 53 Figure 5-6: Nursery grounds in the outer Moray Firth. 54 Figure 5-7: Illustration of boat survey transects and buffer zone 81 Figure 5-8: Location of coastal SPAs, SACs, seal haul out sites and frequency of marine mammal observations. 84 Figure 5-9: Detailed plots of AIS tracks by ship type (June 2010, excluding survey vessel) 100 Figure 5-10: Overview of navigation related recreational activity relative to Moray Firth Round 3 Zone 103 Figure 5-11 Navigational Risk Assessment methodology. 105 Figure 5-12: Ministry of Defence practice areas in the outer Moray Firth. 110 Figure 5-13: Oil infrastructure within the outer Moray Firth 114 Figure 5-14: Zone of Theoretical Visibility with seascape impact boundaries. 120 Figure 5-15: Underwater wrecks and recreational sailing routes within the outer Moray Firth. 126 vii Moray Offshore Renewables Limited Tables Table 1-1: Round 3 zone allocations. Source: The Crown Estate website. ............................................. 6 Table 5-1: Summary of Soil Deposits .................................................................................................... 26 Table-5-2: Hydrodynamic conditions expected across the proposed