Abstract
Moray East is a joint venture partnership between OceanWinds Offshore, Diamond Generating Europe and China Three Gorges and has been established to develop, finance, construct, operate, maintain and decommission the Moray East Offshore Wind Farm. The Moray East Offshore Wind Farm is located on the Smith Bank in the outer Moray Firth. It is located 12 nautical miles (NM) (approx. 22 km) from the Caithness Coast, covers an area of 86 square nautical miles or 295 square km, and ranges from 37 - 57 m in water depth. The Development consists of 100 Wind Turbine Generators (WTGs), three Offshore Substation Platforms (OSPs), inter-array and interconnector cable circuits within the Wind Farm, and three offshore export cable circuits, in addition to onshore infrastructure. The three export cable circuits run from the Moray East Wind Farm to a landfall location in Boyndie Bay on the Aberdeenshire Coast.
This Wind Farm Project Environmental Monitoring Programme (PEMP) has been prepared by Moray Offshore Windfarm (East) Limited (Moray East) to inform Marine Scotland and relevant stakeholders of the proposed environmental monitoring of the Moray East Offshore Wind Farm, comprising the Telford, Stevenson and MacColl Offshore wind farms (including WTGs, inter-array and interconnector cables). Moray East seeks agreement that the information provided meets the requirements of the relevant conditions attached to the Moray East Offshore Wind Farm Consents (as set out in more detail in Table 1-1 below). A separate PEMP has been prepared to address the environmental monitoring programme referent to the Offshore Transmission Infrastructure (OfTI) associated with the Development, the OfTI PEMP. The OfTI assets comprise the three OSPs and three offshore export cables. The scope of monitoring includes seabed scour and local sediment deposition, benthic communities, sandeel, cod, herring, diadromous fish, birds and marine mammals.
Read the Offshore Transmission Infrastructure Project Environmental Monitoring Programme report here.