APEM to Survey German North Sea Wildlife

Ten new digital aerial bird and marine mammal surveys will be delivered by APEM for offshore windfarms in the German North Sea over the next year.

The surveys will take place between February 2015 and March 2016 in order to report the abundance and distribution of seabirds and marine mammals at different times of the year.

The surveys will cover areas of the BARD Offshore 1, Veja Mate and Deutsche Bucht offshore windfarms, which form the so called “Cluster 6” survey area.

Surveys will establish information on populations of birds and marine mammals before construction commences for Veja Mate and Deutsche Bucht, and monitor potential effects of the operational BARD Offshore 1 wind farm.

APEM will carry out the surveys and perform most of the analysis on behalf of German environment consultancy IBL Umweltplanung, which is playing a key role in the environmental aspects of the windfarm developments.

BARD Offshore 1 is Germany’s largest offshore windfarm and the fourth largest in the world. Located around 100km offshore in the German North Sea, it consists of 80 wind turbines each with a capacity of 5MW. It became operational in August 2013 and can supply electricity to up to 400,000 homes.

The 400 MW Veja Mate windfarm is proposed for a site located around 120 km offshore in the German North Sea. The 210 MW Deutsche Bucht windfarm is proposed for a site nearby.

The surveys build on ones APEM carried out on German offshore windfarm areas in the last year and on our extensive experience of offshore aerial surveys in the UK, with over 350 completed.

Image: amep