Marine

New guidance supports tidal sector and helps protect wildlife

May 27, 2016 by 1 Comment | Category Marine Directorate general, Marine Directorate Science

Guidance cover

Renewable energy development in the sea needs to be sustainable and undertaken in the light of the best current understanding of environmental impacts. The potential for marine wildlife to collide with underwater turbines is an important element of risk assessments for tidal stream turbine projects, and new Guidance has just been published by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) for people responsible for assessing this risk to wildlife.

The Guidance presents and discusses three models which can be used to estimate the number of animals likely to collide with tidal turbine arrays, and detailed spreadsheets for performing the calculations are available, together with comprehensive instructions. The aim is to help encourage standardised approaches to collision risk assessment for tidal projects for developers, consultants and regulatory bodies.


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