SEA Wave: Strategic Environmental Assessment of Wave energy technologies
The European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) project has granted the Strategic Environmental Assessment of Wave energy technologies (SEA WAVE) project co-ordinated by EMEC.
SEA Wave Project
SEA Wave aims to address long term environmental concerns around the development of the marine renewable industry’s emerging technology.
The potential environmental impacts that can be associated with the marine energy sector are generally site specific making it difficult to draw conclusions about a specific receptor or impact pathway. SEA Wave will undertake a gap analysis to address the lack of knowledge regarding the potential environmental impacts associated with deploying wave and tidal energy converters in the marine environment.
Building on the bespoke environmental research campaigns undertaken on Wello Oy’s Penguin wave energy converter (WEC), SEA Wave will incorporate future environmental monitoring campaigns on WECs. This will be one of the first targeted, multi-WEC ecological sampling campaigns adopting a rigorous experimental approach to address some of the remaining uncertainties that exist for WECs in offshore environments.
Monitoring campaigns will be developed through a gap analysis approach but are expected to involve the use of non-destructive towed underwater video systems (TUVS) and baited remote underwater video systems (BRUVS) to analyse habitat composition and species assemblages around the deployment locations. Marine acoustic sensors will be used to assess fish distribution and abundance near the devices and gain an understanding of fish attraction to infrastructure
The data collected will be analysed and disseminated through established European networks of stakeholders and end users engaged in better understanding the potential impacts of wave energy developments and refining the burdensome consenting process.
SEA Wave Objectives
The primary aim is to undertake one of the first targeted multi-WEC ecological sampling campaigns adopting a rigorous experimental approach to address some of the remaining uncertainties that exist for WECs in offshore environments. This can be reached by:
- Delivering a comprehensive environmental impact data review
- Impact model framework developed and validated
- Data dissemination derived through EU and international portals
- Transnational regulatory engagement and integration
- Environmental engineering design improvements
- Cutting edge data analytics implemented
- Strategic research carried out by the academic partners
- Streamlined planning and consenting procedures
The findings will provide the evidence-base required for regulatory bodies to adopt a risk-based consenting process and support developers secure future multi-device consents. The overall outcome will address a number of challenges set out in the EU Ocean Energy Forum Roadmap and help the European Commission deliver policies to support sustainable ocean energy developments across Europe.
MARENDATA | Data Management Programme
MARENDATA is a dedicated data sharing platform which will host a range of compiled data collected under the SEA Wave and WESE projects from a range of marine energy test sites, including the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC); BiMEP in the Basque Country; and Peniche, in Portugal.
Data derived from the test sites will include resource characterisation, underwater noise, and video capturing seabed ecology and species behaviour. Data uploaded on the platform will be relevant in evaluating the potential positive and negative environmental effects of wave and tidal energy devices.
If you are interested in accessing data through MARENDATA, please follow this link: http://marendata.eu
SEA Wave News
- 23 April 2020: Environmental monitoring strategies from the SEA Wave project
- 9 March 2020: SEA Wave & WESE launch a platform for ocean energy data sharing
- 6 December 2018: SEA Wave to explore environmental impacts of wave energy
SEA Wave Partners
Led by EMEC, SEA Wave is supported by a diverse range of project partners bringing together wave energy technology developers, academic experts, data managers and key stakeholders across UK, Portugal, Finland, Belgium, Sweden and Ireland.
Deliverables
The project outcomes and results will be disseminated and communicated throughout the lifetime of the project. Please click here to access reports and scientific papers which are available for download: SEA Wave deliverables
Funding
This project is co-funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) of the European Union. The contents of this webpage reflect only the author’s view. EASME is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.
