The Crown Estate and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) have today published a report which aims to help stakeholders involved in offshore wind developments better assess the impacts of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) from subsea power cables on the marine environment.
The report, delivered in collaboration with the Scottish Government, represents the first of four Cefas-led collaborative projects being supported through £1.4m funding from The Crown Estate via the Offshore Wind Evidence and Change Programme (OWEC) – a programme led by The Crown Estate in partnership with DESNZ and Defra that is generating new data and evidence to support and accelerate the sustainable development of offshore wind in the UK.
The report will lead to an improved understanding of the potential effects of EMFs – produced by power transmitted through subsea cables – on marine species, providing further evidence to facilitate and accelerate decisions in the planning and consenting of offshore wind developments. It is the result of a two-day workshop, organised by Cefas and the Scottish Government, which brought together 15 leading scientific minds on EMFs from across a variety of fields, including electrical engineers, oceanographers, (geo)physicists and biologists to share knowledge and set out priority actions to improve future processes.
Source: The Crown Estate.