This project, part of the Offshore Renewables Joint Industry Programme for Offshore Wind (ORJIP Offshore Wind), aimed to identify barriers and propose solutions to feed environmental post-consent data (PCM) back into the consenting process to improve future assessments of offshore wind projects.
Overview
There is currently no strategic feedback mechanism or formal requirement for data collected during post-consent monitoring (PCM) of offshore windfarm developments to be integrated back into the assessment process. Using this data effectively could help reduce uncertainty in the consenting process and is particularly important for both cumulative and future project-based assessments.
Using seabirds as a key receptor group, this project focused on identifying the barriers and potential solutions to incorporate PCM data back into the consenting process for the offshore wind sector using existing tools, thereby ‘closing the loop’ within the broader and essential adaptive management framework. This is especially relevant to the offshore wind sector, where developers are typically required to conduct PCM as part of their licence conditions, which is costly and may be challenging to implement.
fully address the concept of ‘closing the loop’, it was necessary to understand the issue from multiple perspectives. The recommendations we developed spanned a wide range of considerations including policy, process, data, and science. We adopted a pluralistic mode of research through integrating multiple disciplines and methodologies; one problem, multiple lenses. We used mixed method approaches (review, qualitative, and quantitative) over a range of activities to understand different aspects of the problem and develop potential solutions.
Stakeholder engagement was central to co-developing the recommendations. We undertook three rounds of engagement: semi-structured interviews, a focused group workshop, and a final workshop involving a wide range of stakeholders in the offshore renewable energy sector.
An ‘evidence bridges’ approach was used for marine mammals to develop and demonstrate a swift, transparent and auditable mechanism to facilitate evidence transfer and uptake.
Based on the integration of activities across the project, a set of recommendations and a roadmap were developed to remove barriers and set out pathways for implementing the proposed solutions, ultimately providing a mechanism for ‘closing the loop’.
