Abstract
Robin Rigg Offshore Wind Farm in the Solway Firth is operated by E.ON Climate & Renewables (E.ON) and was the first commercial offshore wind farm in Scottish waters. The site is comprised of 60 three megawatt Vestas turbines and an offshore sub-station. Construction of the offshore wind farm and its associated cabling began in December 2007 and the site became full commercial operation in April 2010.
In accordance with the consent from Scottish Ministers under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989, a Marine Environment Monitoring Programme (MEMP) was developed to record any changes to the local physical and ecological environment as a result of the construction of the wind farm. This included monitoring requirements for a number of ecological parameters, such as benthos, non- migratory and electrosensitive fish, birds and marine mammals.
This report represents analysis performed on ecological data collected before construction (during the baseline and pre-construction year), during construction and during the first three years of operation. The data for non-migratory fish and birds has been examined in order to assess the impact of the offshore wind farm on the Solway ecosystem and validate the prediction made in the Environmental Statement. In accordance with the MEMP no benthic, electro-sensitive fish or marine mammal surveys were undertaken in Operational Year 3. Data on these surveys was fully analysed and reported on in the Operational Year 2 report. It should be noted, however, that any marine mammals or electro-sensitive fish observed during the bird and non migratory fish surveys respectively were recorded.
This report has been structured by topic, whereby each chapter is set out as a self contained paper with introduction, methodology (for both survey and analysis), results, discussion and references for each surveys undertaken (i.e. non-migratory fish and bird surveys).