Environmental and Ecological Effects of Ocean Renewable Energy Development – A Current Synthesis

Abstract

a current synthesis b y g E o r g E w. b o E h l E r t a N d a N d r E w b . g i l l m a r i N E r E N E wa b l E E N E r g y | i N a r E g u l ato ry E N V i r o N m E N t iNtroductioN Renewable energy resources may represent one of humankind's best hopes for reducing our substantial contribution to global warming (Krupp and Horn, 2008). Technology to capture the energy from wind, the sun, and biomass are all in various stages of development. In many areas of the world, marine renewable energy has great promise but many of the approaches remain to be developed to commercial standards. Energy from marine wind, tides, currents, waves, and thermal gradients may all hold immense potential for electrical energy generation. The development of the technology, however, is not without environmental and social concerns (Pelc and Fujita, 2002;Gill, 2005;Cada et al., 2007;Boehlert et al., 2008;Inger abstract. Marine renewable energy promises to assist in the effort to reduce carbon emissions worldwide. As with any large-scale development in the marine environment, however, it comes with uncertainty about potential environmental impacts, most of which have not been adequately evaluated-in part because many of the devices have yet to be deployed and tested. We review the nature of environmental and, more specifically, ecological effects of the development of diverse types of marine renewable energy-covering marine wind, wave, tidal, ocean current, and thermal gradient-and discuss the current state of knowledge or uncertainty on how these effects may be manifested. Many of the projected effects are common with other types of development in the marine environment; for example, additional structures lead to concerns for entanglement, habitat change, and community change. Other effects are relatively unique to marine energy conversion, and specific to the type of energy being harnessed, the individual device type, or the reduction in energy in marine systems.While many potential impacts are unavoidable but measurable, we would argue it is possible (and necessary) to minimize others through careful device development and site selection; the scale of development, however, will lead to cumulative effects that we must understand to avoid environmental impacts. Renewable energy developers, regulators, scientists, engineers, and ocean stakeholders must work together to achieve the common dual objectives of clean renewable energy and a healthy marine environment.This article has been published in Oceanography, Volume 23, Number 2, a quarterly journal of The oceanography society.

Marine Environmental Impact of Hydrokinetic Energy

“…An advantage of this is almost certainly the reduction of HKE evolution time towards full deployment, as environmental impacts are taken into account during and not after reaching the full deployment stage. The dual stresser -receptor concept introduced by Gill [12] and enhanced by Boelhart & Gill [13] for ocean renewable energy development provide an attractive starting point to integrating the environmental pillar into HKE TRL assessment.…”

Wave energy: a Pacific perspective

“…The potential environmental stressors of WEC deployment listed by Boehlert & Gill [26] include: physical presence, dynamic effects, chemical effects, acoustic effects and electromagnetic (EM) effects. The above-surface presence of a WEC may impact sea-birds and migratory birds, the surface presence of the device may be a hindrance for surface dwellers, and the below-surface presence of mooring cables and power lines may form artificial reefs.…”

“…Boehlert & Gill [26] list the potential environmental receptors as: the physical environment, pelagic habitat, benthic habitat, fish, marine birds and mammals. WECs may influence the physical environment by creating a shadow region, thus changing the wave height and influencing sediment transport and deposition, which could lead to the need for dredging or beach nourishment.…”

“…Cetaceans were listed by Boehlert & Gill [26] as potential receptors. Accordingly the OPT settlement agreement mentions concern that cetaceans will not be able to detect mooring systems, which may lead to collision or entanglement.…”

Harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) around an operational tidal turbine in Strangford Narrows: No barrier effect but small changes in transit behaviour

“…However, many areas with fast flowing tidal currents, and therefore the potential for energy generation also contain diverse and abundant marine life. Concerns about environmental impacts have been raised during the consenting processes for proposed tidal developments, and many of these have focused on the effects on marine mammals (Boehlert & Gill, 2010;Copping et al, 2016).…”