Interactions between the natural world, offshore wind developments, and other anthropogenic activities are highly complex, and any attempt to predict the scale and nature of impacts will involve uncertainty. To ensure the integrity of the marine environment and its biodiversity, offshore wind assessments must take a precautionary approach in the absence of scientific certainty. The AssESs project will seek to evaluate the extent and significance of uncertainty within ornithological offshore wind impact assessments, and subsequently provide recommendations for how priority sources of uncertainty can be reduced and how precaution should be applied within the assessment process.

The main objectives of the project are to:

• Identify and assess uncertainty and approaches to evaluating uncertainty in ornithological offshore wind impact assessments.
• Evaluate the significance of parameter uncertainty on the outputs of ornithological impact assessments, including how sources of uncertainty interact through the assessment process for both individual projects and cumulatively.
• Seek stakeholder views on how precaution should be applied, accounting for the extent and significance of uncertainty. Define a set of recommendations to address a) the reduction of uncertainty in assessment methods, and b) the treatment of uncertainty within ornithological offshore wind impact assessments.

Clarification questions should be received by 15 March 2024, 12:00 GMT. 

Answers to these questions will be posted below by 18 March 2024.

The closing date to receive tender submissions has been extended to 19 April 2024, 12:00 BST.

All clarification questions and tender submissions should be sent electronically, by their respective deadlines, to ivan.savitsky@carbontrust.com and zilvinas.valantiejus@carbontrust.com.