What impact does offshore wind power have on ecosystems and the climate?

Inhaltsverzeichnis

(Hier finden Sie die deutsche Version des Beitrags)

In Germany and Europe, there is concern about a blackout in the face of ongoing discussions about energy shortages as a result of Russia's war of aggression on Ukraine. Depending on how one looks at it, the energy transition in Germany is considered to have been delayed or even to have failed. In many places, horror scenarios are being sketched out.

We decided to look ahead and take a closer look at what is considered one of the big factors for the success of the energy transition: offshore wind power. To get a closer look at what is actually happening, installed and maintained offshore, we visited WindMW GmbH, which operates on Helgoland as well as in Bremerhaven and Zossen.

This series of articles comprises several parts, which we publish from Tuesday to Friday this week.

Published so far:

• Offshore wind power - a building block for energy independence
• Interview on offshore wind power: "It's a huge challenge".
• Wind power jobs: The offshore service technician - the way is the way round

---

No, that doesn't look nice. Johannes holds his camera out to me. We climbed up to the upper land of Helgoland early, wanting to shoot a reel to make this report more public. We watch the technician ships leave for the wind farms on the horizon, walk on to Lange Anna. Even from this famous vantage point on Helgoland, you can see the wind farms on the horizon. It looks great.

However, the camera reveals the unsightly details. The guillemots live on the cliffs of Helgoland. They breed only there in Germany. They sit picturesquely on the cliffs, their calls creating a unique soundscape. This is clearly Helgoland. But Johannes can zoom in with his camera. What you can't see with normal eyesight, the lens reveals.

Among the chattering and squawking birds on the cliffs, there is apparently fishing waste collected by the birds and animals that have died from it. There it is quite clear, this influence of humans on ecosystems and their creatures. Strangled birds are apparently rotting on the cliffs of Helgoland. So what else are humans causing there? What do the wind farms also cause?

Is that really good?

We try to get to the bottom of the question. Because when it comes to clean energy (and the questions don't exactly come from the climate pollution lobby), people usually want to know a bit more. Is wind power really good? Doesn't it harm the birds, the lobsters, the porpoises, the people? The other suffering caused by coal-fired power plants and the coal mining areas or nuclear energy and its waste products is questioned far less.

Have we become so accustomed to the interventions that these forms of energy require that we no longer see the damage and influences? Or does the close scrutiny of wind power also speak to the realisation "In the past we didn't do it well, didn't know any better - in the future we want to do it better"? Accordingly, we also ask: What does offshore wind power cause in the ecosystems of the North Sea and Baltic Sea? And what problems could there be for the climate?

Lengthy preliminary investigations

Even before the Meerwind Süd | Ost wind farm was erected in the German Bight near Helgoland, the areas were pre-surveyed by the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH). A report recorded which animals live there, what their environment is like, how they reproduce and what they live on.

In current reports on the preliminary site survey, which are also publicly available, it can be read that these preliminary surveys alone can extend over several years due to repeated observation periods - for example, in order to assess breeding or rearing behaviour more precisely.

"Pursuant to section 10 subsection 1 no. 1 WindSeeG, investigations shall be carried out and documented which are required for an environmental impact study in the planning approval procedure pursuant to section 45 WindSeeG for the erection of offshore wind turbines on this site and which may be carried out irrespective of the subsequent design of the project."

In the procedures, animals, plants and entire biotopes are designated beforehand as objects of protection. This includes, for example, the benthos, which comprises all organisms that live in the bottom zone of a body of water. The study of avifauna means that the entire bird population of an area is assessed.

The BSH report therefore states: "Data on benthos, biotope types, fish, avifauna and marine mammals are used/collected to characterise the area in terms of natural features and biotic communities".

The first environmental studies for Meerwind Süd and Meerwind Ost began in 2001, but the park was not actually built until 2012 to 2015. In the process, there was a reassessment by the BSH in 2005, followed by approval in 2007. However, this was contested, so that WindMW only had the certainty of actually being able to build the park in 2010. The lawsuit was dismissed. The disputes over Meerwind Süd and Ost in the environmental assessment are said to have hinged primarily on the population of loons.