There is a large degree of uncertainty surrounding displacement rates of key seabirds. This uncertainty stems from studies reporting a wide variety of behavioural responses, across multiple offshore wind farms, based on inconsistent methods. The need to consider this uncertainty in assessments makes conclusions of Adverse Effects on Integrity more likely due to the requirement to make conclusions about adverse effect ‘beyond reasonable scientific doubt’.

The main objectives of the ImpUDis project are to:

• Provide recommended parameters and assess the implications of adopting the parameter values for use in impact assessments, thereby reducing uncertainty in predictions and consenting risk through improved decision making. This will also reduce the need for additional precaution in assessments and ensure compensation is not required unnecessarily.
• Establish agreed methods and sources of evidence to also help improve consistency in future assessments and approaches to post-consent monitoring.
• Improve our understanding of seabird distributional change by developing, and applying, standard statistical methods.
• Carry out a meta-analysis using considerable quantities of data already available in repositories to investigate factors influencing seabird distributional change (e.g. seasons, OWF characteristics, environmental conditions, including prey distribution and availability).

Please find our responses to your clarification questions in the list of tender documents below.

The closing date to receive tender submissions has been extended to 18 June 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.