Abstract
The Dutch government has started a new round of wind energy development in its EEZ. The aim is set at 4500 MW in 2023. Directly related to these developments, a research programme on ecological effects has been designed, building on research and monitoring carried out in The Netherlands and abroad. The programme, called ‘Wozep’ (Wind op Zee Ecologisch Programma) will run until 2021. In 2016 some initial steps have been taken.
One of the aims in Wozep is to design an integrated monitoring programme, aiming at detecting collisions of birds and bats, and simultaneously carry out measurements of species-specific fluxes of both groups. This should be done around the wind farm, within the wind farm and in the rotor-swept area (RSA). This way, the programme should result in species-specific collision risk figures. The results of such a monitoring programme will also be used to improve collision risk modelling (e.g. the Band Model - Band 2000, 2012, Band et al. 2007, Masden 2015, Masden & Cook 2015 - or the Flux Collision Model, Kleyheeg-Hartman et al. in prep.).
One of the tasks to be completed in 2016 is an inventory and review of systems and techniques that can be used to carry out the measurements described above. This will eventually lead to a draft TOR (Terms of Reference) for a field project. This report provides the inventory and review only.
The aim of this report is to provide a full overview of ‘state of art’ monitoring systems and methods that are currently available and/or in development, and can be used as (part of) an integrated monitoring programme to measure collision victims and fluxes of birds and/or bats in offshore wind farms. The review will deal with relevant features of the systems: effectively measure collisions in combination with fluxes (within reach of wind farm, within wind farm and in Rotor Swept Area - RSA), species specificity of both, data-processing (real time vs indirect), applicability in different weather and light circumstances (night time), requirements related to installation, network band width, power supply etc.
The review is meant to give a general overview of what is available to carry out the measurements Rijkswaterstaat may decide to include in Wozep. It is aiming at showing there is a variety of solutions available, not a detailed comparison aiming at a ranking or quality comparison. Also, this is a snapshot: data on systems will be different tomorrow. Anyone interested in using any of the systems will have to compare the actual capabilities of systems, and features not (yet) evaluated in public papers or reports will have to be shown or demonstrated by system producers.