Danish Study Is Boost for Wind Farms

By IAN FEIN

In the most comprehensive scientific analysis on offshore wind farms
to date, a Danish government report released last week found little or
no environmental impacts from the world's two largest offshore
projects.

The findings are significant for the Nantucket Sound wind farm
proposal because they address many of the environmental concerns raised
about Cape Wind - the first offshore project proposed in the
United States.

"Danish experience from the past 15 years shows that offshore
wind farms, if placed right, can be engineered and operated without
significant damage to the marine environment and vulnerable
species," the report said in its executive summary. "Under
the right conditions, even big wind farms pose low risks to birds,
mammals and fish."

Authored by Danish energy and environmental government agencies,
along with power companies that own the two offshore projects, the
140-page report represents the culmination of eight years of studies
dating back prior to construction and continuing through the current
year. Government scientists presented their findings last week at a
conference in Denmark attended by wind energy leaders from around the
world, including top executives from both Cape Wind and its chief
opponent, the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound.

Also in attendance were officials from the Minerals Management
Service, the environmental agency within the U.S. Department of Interior
which has lead regulatory authority over offshore wind farms in this
country and is currently reviewing the Cape Wind proposal. Dr. Rodney
Cluck, Cape Wind project manager for the Minerals Management Service,
praised the Danish report this week and said it provided concepts and
methodology that will prove useful to the agency's ongoing review.
But he also stressed the need for site-specific Nantucket Sound studies
in the Cape Wind environmental impact statement, scheduled for release
later this winter.

"For our use here in the United States, the report and its
findings are very important. It adds to our overall knowledge and
understanding of offshore wind developments," Mr. Cluck said.
"We still have to study each individual area, to know the
particular species and their possible impacts. But scientifically, the
report was very well done."

The report, titled Danish Offshore Wind: Key Environmental Issue,
focused on two large offshore wind farms built within the past few years
- the 80-turbine Horns Rev project, which is located nine miles
off the southwestern coast of Denmark, and the 72-turbine Nysted
project, which is located about six miles offshore in the southeastern
part of the country.

Because the Horns Rev location is similar to Nantucket Sound, the
Danish report addresses some of the same species and issues involved in
the Cape Wind proposal, which seeks to build 130 turbines on Horseshoe
Shoal in the middle of the sound. Overall, the report echoes many
findings in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers draft environmental impact
statement on the Cape Wind project, released roughly two years ago and
seen as largely favorable to project developers.

"[The Danish report] reinforces a lot of the things we have
said all along," said Cape Wind vice president for project
development Craig Olmstead, who attended the conference in Denmark last
week. "You have really got to dig deep to find anything negative
to wind farms in this whole thing."

Endorsed by an independent panel of international marine scientists,
the report used data compiled over the course of eight years from a
variety of sources, including radar, infrared video, scuba divers and
underwater photos. The studies cost about $15 million, and were funded
by a surcharge paid by Danish electricity consumers.

Among other things the report found:

* Strong evidence that offshore turbines are unlikely to have a
significant impact on bird populations. According to radar data, more
than half of the birds passing the area completely avoided the wind
farm, and those that flew through the project changed altitude to avoid
collision with turbine blades. Models estimated that roughly one in
every 5,000 passing common eiders may have collided with a turbine.

* The main environmental effect resulted from the introduction
of hard-bottomed structures on a previously sandy seabed. The underwater
turbine bases acted like artificial reefs, and increased the total
number and diversity of benthic organisms, such as common mussels,
starfish and different species of crab.

* Fish populations neither increased nor decreased in the area,
despite scientific speculation that the artificial reefs would provide
additional sources of food and shelter. The report noticed some minor
behavioral changes among fish near the buried electric cables, but the
changes varied according to different types of species.

* Marine mammals, such as harbor seals and porpoises, left the
wind farm vicinity during noisy pile driving activities, but largely
returned after construction ceased.

The report also surveyed public opinion both before and after
construction, and found that people were generally positive toward the
two projects. Danish opinion appeared to parallel the Nantucket Sound
debate, in that public sentiment was more favorable nationally than
locally, and that opposition in nearby communities was based mostly on
visual impacts. Interviews with local residents found that even though
most people accepted that environmental impacts were largely neutral,
they still wanted future projects to be placed farther offshore and out
of sight.

Cape Wind opponents this week did not challenge the findings of the
Danish studies, but instead highlighted statements in the report that
spoke to the need for appropriate siting of offshore projects. Opponents
also focused on differences in the permitting process for offshore
projects in Denmark and the United States.

The Danish government identifies appropriates sites for offshore
wind farms, as established in the national energy policy, and then
solicits competitive bids to determine which project is most in the
public interest. The Minerals Management Service is now developing a
similar process in the United States, but because of special language
written into a piece of legislation last year, Cape Wind is exempt from
competitive bidding.

Last month marked the five-year anniversary of the initial Cape Wind
permit application, and a final decision on the project is not expected
for at least another year. Meanwhile, Danish authorities now plan to
expand Horns Rev and Nysted - already the two largest offshore
wind farms in the world. Wind power in Denmark currently provides some
20 per cent of the nation's electricity consumption, and the
report estimated that number may grow to 50 per cent by 2025, with the
majority coming from offshore projects.

Noting that large offshore wind farms are in various stages of
planning and development across Europe and elsewhere in the United
States, the Danish report last week looked favorably on the future of
offshore wind energy.

"With higher oil prices and high [carbon dioxide] allowance
prices, we expect that a significant proportion of the renewable energy
expansion will be delivered by large, offshore wind farms," the
report said. "The framework for expansion of offshore wind farms
in an environmentally sustainable manner now seems to be in
place."