Abstract
Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) are emitted from subsea power cables associated with offshore renewable energy (ORE, which may include wind, wave and tidal energy) and general electricity transmission. Sustainable energy initiatives to combat climate change and meet ambitious green energy goals demand rapid advancement of ORE deployment. With this comes an increased number of cables and EMFs in marine and coastal waters, yet the effects of EMFs on marine life remain a key understudied energy emission. Therefore, the evidence base used to inform the assessment of environmental impacts is lacking. With the anticipation of large-scale ORE deployment and need for more robust evidence-based assessment of environmental and cumulative impacts, a cross-sectoral knowledge exchange initiative was deemed to be timely. The intended outcome was to establish a common understanding of current knowledge regarding the EMF topic (EMF emissions, species effects and potential impacts) and focus on strategically improving the evidence base where needed. The overarching goal was to improve the understanding of the current evidence base for use in the environmental impact assessments, for developers, regulators and advisors. This will in turn help facilitate robust decision making supporting the sustainable development of ORE and delivering green energy targets.
The work programme involved two workshops and the development of illustrations (Figure 1). The workshops facilitated academic engagement with policy and decision makers, and industry, with the primary goal of collaboratively advancing our understanding of the effects and potential impact of EMFs. Within these workshops, following an overview and discussion of the current understanding of the EMF topic, the goal was to identify salient questions regarding the potential impacts of EMF that need to be addressed. An important outcome of this work was the development of a roadmap for improving the evidence base in a manner that is beneficial to the non-academic end-user. In parallel, an illustrative exercise focussed on communicating the EMF topic, which is difficult to grasp and has several interrelated elements that need to be understood.
Both workshops were planned and delivered by Dr Zoë L Hutchison (University of St Andrews) and Dr Andrew B Gill (Cefas). Workshop 1 took place with policy and decision makers on 23 June 2022 and workshop 2 with industry took place on 5 August 2022 (see Appendices for participants). The industry workshop was further supported by Prof. Brian Stewart (University of Strathclyde, Professor of HV Engineering) and Dr Peter Sigray (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Ocean Physicist) joining as academic experts to facilitate discussions. The illustrative exercise was explored with the aforementioned colleagues and had additional input from Dr Nathan Putman (LGL Ecological Research Associates, Senior Scientist) and Dr Peter Klimley (University of California, Davis, Adjunct Professor) on the biological context. Following discussions about how best to portray EMFs and species interactions, Dr Hendrik Gheerardyn undertook the challenging task of producing illustrations which became integral to a set of infographics to help communicate the EMF topic.
Within this report, an introduction to the EMF topic is provided in Section 2, and a summary of the workshop discussions is provided in Section 3. Section 4 provides a summary accompanying the infographics which help explain the EMF topic. A summary and conclusions with the next steps are presented in Section 5.