French offshore wind impact survey

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A French collaborative project has been looking at the potential impact of floating wind farms on marine ecosystems.

Following the three scientific surveys carried out in April 2018, August 2018 and May 2019 on the Groix & Belle-Île pilot site, a new survey took place from 29 August to 8 September 2019 as part of the APPEAL collaborative R&D project, coordinated by France Energies Marines and scientifically managed by the University of Western Brittany (UBO). This new survey continues to collect data on the future pilot site ecosystem, measurements of environmental parameters as well as the collection of plankton and benthic animals.

By combining this information from the field with numerical modelling work, the APPEAL project aims to make it possible to understand the potential effects of floating wind farms on the functioning of coastal ecosystems

The APPEAL collaborative R&D project also aims to build an integrated approach at the ecosystem level. The natural sciences are associated with the human and social sciences in order to take into account the human dimension through the analysis of activities such as fishing and maritime traffic. The goal is to measure the potential effects of floating wind farms on the functioning of coastal ecosystems as a whole and thus propose tools to assist in the integration of such infrastructures at sea.

By Jake Frith