Renewable energy is a must. So is protecting marine life.
The federal government is now proactively investing in offshore wind farms to install in five states across theover the next decade. The decarbonization of the electricity grid is vital for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Still, the next big challenge for wind energy is ensuring farms are environmentally sustainable by reducing and mitigating any negative impacts on marine ecosystems.
Scientists predominantly conducted the existing research on the environmental impacts of offshore wind farms in Northern Europe, where offshore turbines started operating in. “But the impacts are not the same in the Mediterranean region and the US as compared to the North Sea,” says Josep Lloret Romañach, a marine biologist and professor at the University of Girona.
The North Sea stretches between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. Its continental shelf—or the edge of a continent that lies under the ocean—is far longer and broader than the Mediterranean and North American continental shelf, explains Romañach. He adds that a smaller continental shelf means builders must put turbines closer to shorelines.
“The North Sea’s bed is mostly muddy. But in other parts of the world, there is a lot of marine biodiversity including seagrass and deep-water corals that could get damaged during the construction and operation phases,” he says. “Policymakers need to consider these particularities that make diverse marine habitats highly sensitive to human pressures.”
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