Abstract
To accelerate the expansion of Danish offshore wind production, the Finance Act for 2022 and the subsequent Climate Agreement on Green Power and Heat of 25 June 2022 established the framework for developing a minimum of 9 GW of offshore wind capacity in Danish waters.
To realize these political commitments and significantly increase offshore wind energy production, the Danish Energy Agency has prepared a development plan for offshore wind farms in three designated areas: the North Sea, the Kattegat, and the Baltic Sea. As part of this process, the Agency has initiated a wide range of feasibility studies in the areas, some of which are reported in this report.
The North Sea I area covers approximately 1,400 km2, divided into three sub-areas designated for offshore wind development (Figure 1-1). Located 20-80 km off the coast of West Jutland, each of the three sub-areas will be connected to the onshore grid through designated export cable corridors.
In May 2025, the Danish Parliament adopted the tender framework agreement, which determined that two of the three sub-areas in North Sea I – specifically Nordsøen I Midt and Nordsøen I Syd – will be included in the first tender round. The third sub-area, Nordsøen I Nord, will remain in a pool of potential future tender sites.
The map shows the location of the two sub-areas - Nordsøen I Midt and Nordsøen I Syd – which will be tendered for in autumn 2025 (Source: ens.dk/energikilder/nordsoeen-i-syd-og-midt-havvindmoelleparker/). The area Nordsøen I Nord is north of Nordsøen I Midt, whereas the darker blue area to the west is for future development of offshore wind.
The tendering process for Nordsøen I Midt Offshore Wind Farm (OWF) and Nordsøen I Syd OWF will commence in autumn 2025. The deadline for Nordsøen I Midt OWF is set for spring 2026, while the deadline for Nordsøen I Syd OWF will follow in autumn 2027. According to the current schedule, Nordsøen I Midt OWF is expected to be operational by 2032, with Nordsøen I Syd OWF coming online in 2033.
This report concerns baseline data and information on marine mammals. The study was carried out on behalf of Energinet by DCE in collaboration with NIRAS during April 2023–April 2025.
This technical report concerns two years of data collection in the marine mammal work package. The report includes data obtained from eight aerial marine mammal surveys conducted in April, June and August 2023, and in April, June, July, October and November 2024 as well as data from April 2023–April 2025 from 42 PAM stations (9 CPOD/FPOD stations, 6 SoundTrap/FPOD stations and 27 FPOD stations). Furthermore, results from the noise monitoring at North Sea I (NSI), noise recordings of turbine noise at Kriegers Flak offshore windfarm (OWF) and array studies of harbour porpoises and noise at Horns Rev 3 OWF are presented. The results from the field surveys are supplemented with existing data and information compiled from literature studies.
The objective of the environmental pre-investigations was to collect new data and compile existing data and information to be handed over to the future concessionaires as environmental baseline information for the concessionaires’ environmental permitting processes. The specific aim of this technical report is to provide updated baseline knowledge on marine mammal presence and usage of the North Sea I area as well as an updated underwater soundscape of the area.