This Appendix presents a case by case analysis of the MMMPs employed at OWF sites throughout Europe. For a summary of MMMP guidance for individual countries, please refer to Appendix F on the preceding page. Table G.1 presents details of MMMPs implemented at OWFs in the UK. This information has been sourced from site specific MMO reports and construction reports, environmental statements, and FEPA/Marine Licences, as applicable. In the UK, MMOs are required to provide a detailed report on the implementation of the MMMP, which contains information such as hours of search effort, non-compliance events, number of mammal sightings, and cumulative piling delays due to marine mammal sightings. The results of these have been summarised in Table G.2, and the locations of the OWF sites described in Table G.1 and G.2 are displayed in Figure G.1.
Details of the mitigation techniques used elsewhere in Europe are provided in Table G.3. Construction/MMO reports similar to those described above are not produced elsewhere in Europe, so much of the information in Table G.3 has been sourced from peer-reviewed papers or personal communications with individuals involved in each of the respective projects.
Table G.1 UK OWFs and MMMP details
Wind farm details Marine Mammal Mitigation Plan
Name Location Commissioned
Capacity (MW) Operator
Approximate footprint (km2 ) MMO PAM Standardised Soft starts ADD Additional information/licence details
North Hoyle Irish Sea 2004 60 RWE 10 N N N N No mitigation specified in licence.
Scroby Sands S. North Sea 2004 60 E.ON 4 N N N N No mitigation specified in licence.
Kentish Flats S. North Sea 2005 90 Vattenfall 10 N N N N No mitigation specified in licence.
Barrow Irish Sea 2006 90 Centrica/DONG 10 Y
(crew)
N N Y No information provided on pinger. Licence does not specify dedicated or trained observer and construction reports unclear about level of visual monitoring provided by vessel crew. Additionally, ADD/pinger not mentioned in licence.
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Wind farm details Marine Mammal Mitigation Plan
Name Location Commissioned
Capacity (MW) Operator
Approximate footprint (km2 ) MMO PAM Standardised Soft starts ADD Additional information/licence details
Burbo Bank Irish Sea 2007 90 DONG 10 N N Y N Only soft start mentioned in licence. No
record or MMO activity in reports.
Rhyl Flats Irish Sea 2009 90 RWE 10 Y Y Y N Not in directly specified in licence, but Soft
start, MMO and PAM covered in construction report.
Gunfleet Sands 1+2 S. North Sea 2009 108 DONG 8 Y N Y N Soft start, trained/experienced MMO + PAM
(for low vis) stipulated in licence and confirmed in MMO reports.
LID S. North Sea 2009 194 Centrica 20 Y Y Y N
Soft start, trained/experienced MMO + PAM (for low vis) stipulated in licence and confirmed in MMO reports.
Robin Rigg Irish Sea 2010 180 E.ON 18 Y N Y Y Trained MMOs used.
Thanet S. North Sea 2010 300 Vattenfall 35 Y Y Y N
Soft start, trained/experienced MMO + PAM (for low vis) stipulated in licence and confirmed in MMO reports.
Walney Phase I Irish Sea 2011 183.6 DONG 28 Y Y Y Y
Soft start, trained/experienced MMO + PAM (for low visibility) stipulated in licence and confirmed in MMO reports. No mention of pinger/ADD in licence.
Walney II Irish Sea 2012 183.6 DONG 45 Y Y Y N
Soft start, trained/experienced MMO + PAM (for low visibility) stipulated in licence and confirmed in MMO reports.
ORJIP Project 4, Phase 1 – Use of Deterrent Devices and Improvements to Standard Mitigation during Piling Assignment Number: L300100-S00
Document Number: L-300100-S00-REPT-002 110
Wind farm details Marine Mammal Mitigation Plan
Name Location Commissioned
Capacity (MW) Operator
Approximate footprint (km2 ) MMO PAM Standardised Soft starts ADD Additional information/licence details
Ormonde Irish Sea 2012 150 Vattenfall 10 Y Y Y N
Soft start, trained/experienced MMO + PAM (for low visibility) stipulated in licence and confirmed in MMO reports.
Greater Gabbard S. North Sea 2012 504 SSE/RWE 146 Y Y Y N Soft start, trained/experienced MMO + PAM
(for low visibility) stipulated in licence.
Gwynt y Mor Irish Sea Construction 567 RWE 80 Y Y Y N Soft start, trained/experienced MMO + PAM
(for low visibility) stipulated in licence.
West of Duddon Sands Irish Sea Construction 389 Scottish Power/DONG 67 Y Y Y N Soft start, trained/experienced MMO + PAM (for low visibility) stipulated in licence.
Lincs S. North Sea Construction 270 Centrica 41 Y Y Y N Soft start, trained/experienced MMO + PAM
(for low visibility) stipulated in licence.
London Array 1 S. North Sea Construction 630 DONG/E.ON/MASDAR 121 Y Y Y Y
Soft start, trained/experienced MMO + PAM (for low visibility) stipulated in licence and confirmed in MMO reports. No mention of pinger in licence conditions
Sheringham Shoal S. North Sea Construction 315 STATOIL & STATKRAFT 35 Y Y Y N Soft start, trained/experienced MMO + PAM (for low visibility) stipulated in licence.
Teesside N. North Sea Construction 62.1 EDF 10 Y Y Y N Soft start, trained/experienced MMO + PAM
(for low visibility) stipulated in licence.
Humber Gateway S. North Sea Consented 219 E.ON 25 Y Y Y ?
Info sourced from MMMP. ADDs being considered for night piling. No mention of their use in the licence.
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Table G.2 Summary of UK MMO reports (IV = installation vessel, SV = dedicated survey vessel)
OWF
Day /night (or bad vis.) MMMP compliance Location Time (mins) Detections (in/out of MZ) Location Time (mins) Detections (assumed in MZ) No. Total delay (mins) Location Model
Barrow ? ? IV Unknown 0/0 N/A N/A N/A 0.00 0 0 IV Pinger One of construction crew was
AHD deployed by client rep. on IV, 30 minutes before soft start, after 30 minutes of detection free PAM. Never deployed for longer than 60 minutes to prevent habituation – this was represented nearly 50 % of activity. The only marine mammal sighting made throughout the project were made during piling.
ORJIP Project 4, Phase 1 – Use of Deterrent Devices and Improvements to Standard Mitigation during Piling
Day /night (or bad vis.) MMMP compliance Location Time (mins) Detections (in/out of MZ) Location Time (mins) Detections (assumed in MZ) No. Total delay (mins) Location Model
LID 43/20 55/63 SV 4,955 3/13 SV 5,155 0 0.16 0 0 N/A N/A 13 sightings included 11 seals (largest
group size of 2) and 3 porpoises. 2 non-compliance events due to inability to soft start for two ‘re-drive’ scenarios, which prohibited soft start. These 2, plus a further 6 were also non-compliant with the MMP because adverse weather or operational issues prevented mobilisation of the MMO, so FLO had to fill in. KEY POINT: 20 night time starts using PAM had no chance of detecting seals. MMO report
recommended ADD should be used in future. 2 of 26 piling events in the Lynn field were non-compliant with the soft
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OWF
Piling MMO PAM
Total detectio
ns per offshore
man hour
Piling delays
ADD
Observation notes/additional details
Day /night (or bad vis.) MMMP compliance Location Time (mins) Detections (in/out of MZ) Location Time (mins) Detections (assumed in MZ) No. Total delay (mins) Location Model
guidance. Modified soft start because of issue with chalk setup (chemical and physical reactions cause resistance of substrate to increase over time once piling has started, so it is necessary to install the pile as quickly as possible).
ADD used in combination with PAM during dark starts or adverse weather.
ADD failed once due to battery not being charged. NOTE: Number of bad visibility/night time piling events estimated from number of piling events that were not accompanied by visual monitoring, which can be found in the MMO report. In some areas of the London Array site there was a thin veneer of sand overlying hard chalk substrate. There was concern that conducting standard soft starts might lead to undue stress/damage to the pile if it became ‘stuck’ in the chalk as a result of setup. The standard soft start protocol was modified to allow a higher initial energy level.
ORJIP Project 4, Phase 1 – Use of Deterrent Devices and Improvements to Standard Mitigation during Piling
Day /night (or bad vis.) MMMP compliance Location Time (mins) Detections (in/out of MZ) Location Time (mins) Detections (assumed in MZ) No. Total delay (mins) Location Model
Ormonde 147/49 196/19 7
SV 17,727 0/7 SV 25,344 1 0.027 0 0 N/A N/A 2 MMO + 2 PAM operators. Sightings:
5 harbour porpoise, 2 grey seal, 1 small whale. PAM detection did not have corresponding visual observation, and did not cause delay as it occurred before pre-watch period commenced.
Rhyl flats 20/5 25/25 SV/IV 3,552 1/0 SV 4,331 0 0.017 1 42 N/A N/A PAM did not detect sighted porpoise.
MMOs transferred to IV for 1 pile due to anchor issues. PAM were unable to deployed on buoys for longer than 60 minutes. Reported much difficulty – issues. 1 H & S event – minor collision
ORJIP Project 4, Phase 1 – Use of Deterrent Devices and Improvements to Standard Mitigation during Piling Assignment Number: L300100-S00
Document Number: L-300100-S00-REPT-002 115
OWF
Piling MMO PAM
Total detectio
ns per offshore
man hour
Piling delays
ADD
Observation notes/additional details
Day /night (or bad vis.) MMMP compliance Location Time (mins) Detections (in/out of MZ) Location Time (mins) Detections (assumed in MZ) No. Total delay (mins) Location Model
night. between MMO and anchor buoy.
Required some repair work but did not impact upon MMMP. Sighting inside MZ was harbour porpoise, 20 minutes prior to commencement of pre-watch.
Sightings outside of MZ or during transit included 1 seal, 1 group of dolphins travelling through site after a very busy 4 day period, a small group of porpoise and a dolphin.
Gwynt y Mor - - - 13,602 8/24 - 28,748 - 0.035 5 59 - - -
Lincs - 101/10
2
SV 16,744 6/0 SV 35,547 - 0.022 6 45 IV Airmar
dB Plus II
Supplementary use of ADD. Non-compliance event due to breakdown of MMO vessel.
ORJIP Project 4, Phase 1 – Use of Deterrent Devices and Improvements to Standard Mitigation during Piling Assignment Number: L300100-S00
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Figure G.1 Locations of OWFs described in Table G.1 and G.2
ORJIP Project 4, Phase 1 – Use of Deterrent Devices and Improvements to Standard Mitigation during Piling Assignment Number: L300100-S00
Document Number: L-300100-S00-REPT-002 117
Table G.3 Marine mammal mitigation used during construction of European OWFs
Country OWF Soft start ADD Notes Source
No indication of soft start in report, but guidance and interviews indicate from all anchors of the piling rig.
Lofitech seal scarer was lowered into the water every time the rig was moved.
Pinger and seal scarer deployed 2 – 3 hours before piling commenced.
(Brandt et al., 2009)
Denmark Nysted No mention of soft start. employed near (< 200 m) the pile for 30 minutes before and up until the end of piling activity.
No. No mammal mitigation required due to location.
Personal communication anon.
ORJIP Project 4, Phase 1 – Use of Deterrent Devices and Improvements to Standard Mitigation during Piling Assignment Number: L300100-S00
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Country OWF Soft start ADD Notes Source
engineering soft start.
The Netherlands
LUV Yes. Yes – 30 mins
before piling.
Also required MMO and PAM during porpoise calving period (1 month).
300 m mitigation zone.
Personal communication anon.
ORJIP Project 4, Phase 1 – Use of Deterrent Devices and Improvements to Standard Mitigation during Piling Assignment Number: L300100-S00
Document Number: L-300100-S00-REPT-002 119