Review of Cabling Techniques and Environmental Effects Applicable

Review of Cabling Techniques and Environmental Effects Applicable to the Offshore Wind
Farm Industry – Technical Report
Mitigation measures to avoid, reduce or minimise environmental effects have
been cited along with a discussion on their effective implementation, where
known. During the planning phases of a proposed offshore wind farm many of
the potential impacts are reduced through good environmental management
practices, including the avoidance of known sensitive sites or areas with high
proportion of fines, chalk areas, sensitive areas for fish spawning, etc. These
can occur where there is enough knowledge of the baseline environmental
conditions. However, in other areas it is important that a degree of flexibility
is present to enable certain mitigation measures to be applied, for example,
seasonal restrictions and micro-siting of cable routes.
5.2 Subtidal Ecology
5.2.2 INTRODUCTION
Subtidal habitats likely to be encountered by cable routes include the
following:
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
102
bedrock and boulders;
reefs;
chalk;
gravel and shingle beds;
sand and mud (silts and clays) banks;
maerl beds;
seagrass beds; and
● biogenic reefs such as horse mussel beds (Modiolus modiolus), and Sabellaria
spinulosa (Ross worm) reefs (Johnston et al., 2002).
Potentially significant effects include:
●
●
Seabed disturbance; and
Increase in suspended sediment concentrations and subsequent settlement.
Other effects include:
●
●
●
●
Potential contaminant release;
Electro magnetic effects;
Heating effects; and
Cable coating effects.