Offshore Wind Energy Development and Birds in New York

Transcription

1 Offshore Wind Energy Development and Birds in New York Susan Elbin, New York City Audubon Jim Brown, South Shore Audubon Wing Goodale, Biodiversity Research Institute first presented 16 January 2016 Long Island Audubon Council Meeting Quogue, New York funded by a Moore Energy Siting Grant to the National Audubon Society

2 Today s Presentation Introduction and history behind the project Goals of the project Intro to off-shore wind energy development Applying results of this study to the NY Bight Next steps

3 Goals and Accomplishments (of the Audubon Grant) Risks to birds Risk management and mitigation Data gaps

4 Introduction and History Why OWED now? Proposed Long Island offshore wind farms Need to provide comments on the project

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6 The London Array World's largest wind farm (4 July 2013) MW turbines Occupies 38.6 miles 2 (100 km 2 ) Phase 2 cancelled The New York Call Area is ~127 miles 2 (~330 km 2 ) 50 5-MW turbines would occupy ~ 20 miles 2 (~52 km 2 ) 100 turbines would occupy ~ 45 miles 2 (~117 km 2 )

7 Wind Measurements USA

8 Status of USA Offshore Wind BOEM leasing in Wind Energy Areas (WEAs, Wind Planning Areas) Three DOE demonstration projects funded: Fisherman s Energy (NJ) Dominion (VA) Principle Power (OR) Umaine Aqua Ventus first to power the grid Cape Wind birds +, backers - Block Island (30MW, 5-turbines) will be 1 st?

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11 BOEM Wind Energy Areas

12 The Issue BOEM

13 NY Offshore Wind NYPA/ConEd proposing a project 13 miles from Rockaway Peninsula New York New York Proposed Lease Area NK (New York) Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will be preparing an EA for the NY Call Area New Jersey F G H K L I J K L 6655 P M N O P M N O P B C D A B C D A B C D H E F G H E F G H E F G H J K L I J K L I J K L I J K L 6707 P M N O P M N O P M N O P M N O P M 6715 Fed/State 6716 Boundary A B C D A B C D A B C D A B C D A B C D A C D A H E F H E F G H E F G H E F G H E F G 8g Line G G H E F G H I J K L I 6758 J K L I J K L I J K L I J K L I J K 1 Nautical Mile Buffer of TSS 6759 O P M N O P M N O P M N O P M N O P M N 6764 A B C D A B C D A B C D A B C D A Available for Placement of Structures G H E F G H E F G H E F G H L I J K L I J K L I J No Surface Occupancy O P M N O P M N A B C D A Precautionary Area E F G H Traffic 6866 Lane K 6862 OCS Lease Blocks Official Protraction Diagram Bathymetry > 50 meters meters meters meters meters meters Nautical Miles Map 6018 ID: PACB NY Call Area

14 Background Power Authority in NY NYPA (NY Power Authority), ConEd (Con Edison) MW = 700 MW BOEM (Bureau of Energy Management) Call for information and nomination (May 2014) Finalize a WEA (Wind Energy Area) Intent to prepare an Environmental Assessment Public comment summer 2016

15 The proposed project by NYPA in New York Turbine capacity of MW Assumption: New York marine waters would have a 5-6 MW capacity A 5 MW offshore turbine would have Rotor diameter of 126 m Sweep area of 12,470 m2 Hub height of 90 m Cut-in wind speed of 3 m/s Rated speed of 11.4 m/s Cut-out speed of 25 m/s Rated tip speed of 80 m/s (178 mph) (Jonkman et al. 2009)

16 Is 700 MW a lot? How many wind turbines would it take to power all of New York City? 20,000 MW to meet NYC s electric consumption needs 4,000 5-MW turbines What does 700 MW power? 194 x 3.6 MW wind park 220,000 homes Output compared to nuclear power? Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant - 2,000 MW capacity Output compared to gas/coal Ravenswood Generating Station, Long Island City 2,410 MW capacity

17 Assessing risk

18 What is risk? Crichton 1999: The Risk Triangle

19 Adverse Effects Direct effects: injury or death Indirect effects: habitat modification and behavioral modification (avoidance/attraction)

20 Adverse Effects Taxon Vulnerable characteristic Bird Long-live/high adult survival/low annual reproductive rate; fly at rotor height; attraction to and avoidance of turbines, piscivory Vulnerable life stage Breeding, migrating, wintering Primary exposure Operation Adverse effect Mortality, injury, displacement

21 Adverse effects of OWED on Wildlife Hazards: physical changes to the environment from OWED (i.e., impact-producing factors ) Vulnerability: species that are at risk to the hazards of OWED Exposure: vulnerable species must be exposed to OWED to have adverse effects. If they are not there they cannot be adversely affected. Hazards, Vulnerability, Exposure Adverse Effects

22 Hazard: Wind Farm BOEM Turbine size: MW Rotor diameter: 413 ft (5MW) Hub height: 295 ft (5MW) Spacing: 5-10 rotor diameter Number of turbines: ~5-100 Support structure: monopile, jacket, floating Siemens Siemens D6 platform-6.0 direct drive wind turbine: The new standard offshore. (August ; brochures/d6 Offshore brochure_english_apr2014_web.pdf) Siemens 2014

23 Hazard: Lighting Artificial light attracts birds Turbine lighting required at the top by FAA Turbine lighting required at the base by USCG

24 Additional Hazards: towers and buoys for meteorological monitoring Towers Buoys BOEM Commercial Wind Lease Issuance and Site Assessment Activities on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf Offshore New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia: Final Environmental Assessment. U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Office of Renewable Energy Programs.

25 Cumulative Adverse Effects Goodale and Milman 2014

26 Goodale and Milman 2014

27 Bergström, et al. 2014

28 Is there evidence of direct effect on birds? Difficult to measure Zeebrugge, Belgium >160 deaths/year (Everaert and Stienen 2007) Nobel Wind, Belgium 100 gulls and kittiwake Risk collision model for 10,000 wind turbines in North Sea 5,257 thrushes could be killed during one night This same model predicted the 1,046 seabirds (Brabant et al. 2015)

29 Exposure Temporal Life stage of exposure (i.e., breeding, migration, wintering) Duration of exposure to hazard (e.g., 30 years) Spatial Distribution of population How the population is using the wind farm area Physical area occupied by the wind farm

30 What is a vulnerable species?

31 Vulnerability Goodale and Stenhouse in press

32 Offshore Wind Hazards Birds are most at risk during operational phase

33 Offshore Wind Hazards Birds are most at risk during operational phase Development phase Development component Operation Turbines Network connection Hazard Source Turbines Wind farm footprint Electrical cable Hazard Disturbed air space Turbulence Noise Permanently altered habitat EMF

34 Guidelines for Avian Survey Information Survey plan should: ID vulnerable species using the project site Quantify distribution and abundance (baseline) Delineate migratory flight paths Develop an approach to quantify substantial changes in distribution and abundance Include pre-survey meetings Create reporting structure Outline survey methodology

35 Avian Research Strategy Case Study - Massachusetts

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38 Planning and Analysis

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43 Where are the birds? Kinlan et al. 2012

44 Where are the birds? Kinlan et al. 2012

45 Where are the birds? Kinlan et al. 2012

46 New York Birds: Seabirds/waterbirds Adverse effects: collision and displacement Exposure: many species Vulnerability: species dependent but high for some Kinlan B.P., C. Menza, and F. Huettmann Chapter 6: Predictive Modeling of Seabird Distribution Patterns in the New York Bight. pp In: C. Menza, B.P. Kinlan, D.S. Dorfman, M. Poti and C. Caldow (eds.). A Biogeographic Assessment of Seabirds, Deep Sea Corals and Ocean Habitats of the New York Bight: Science to Support Offshore Spatial Planning. NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS NCCOS 141. Silver Spring, MD. 224 pp..

47 New York Birds: Seabirds/waterbirds Kinlan B.P., C. Menza, and F. Huettmann Chapter 6: Predictive Modeling of Seabird Distribution Patterns in the New York Bight. pp In: C. Menza, B.P. Kinlan, D.S. Dorfman, M. Poti and C. Caldow (eds.). A Biogeographic Assessment of Seabirds, Deep Sea Corals and Ocean Habitats of the New York Bight: Science to Support Offshore Spatial Planning. NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS NCCOS 141. Silver Spring, MD. 224 pp..

48 Adverse effects: Largely unknown although they have been found to collide with terrestrial turbines Exposure: Falcons, Osprey, Northern Harrier Vulnerability: Low to medium New York Birds: Raptors

49 New York Birds: Shorebirds/wading birds Adverse effects: Largely unknown, potential collision Exposure: primarily during migration Vulnerability: phalaropes may have high collision risk; wading birds may have medium collision risk

50 New York Birds: Passerines Adverse effects: collision Exposure: spring and fall nocturnal migration Vulnerability: Passerines typically migrate between m but can fly lower during inclement weather or with headwinds. Vulnerability can increase if there is substantial lighting of turbines or associated structures.

51 Mitigation Mitigation Categories 1. Avoid the impact 2. Minimize the impact 3. Rectify the impact by restoring the affected environment 4. Reduce or eliminate the impact over time 5. Compensate by replacing or providing substitute for the resource From NEPA regulations

52 Mitigation actions Avoid Avoid biological hotspots Avoid construction close to critical habitat (e.g., breeding sites) Minimize Turbine curtailment, increase day visibility, reduce lighting, use deterrents Compensation Increase adult and juvenile survival Increase reproductive success

53 Filling Data Gaps Increase knowledge on vulnerability NYS specific vulnerability assessment Assess existing knowledge on priority species Conduct field studies to fill data gaps Increase knowledge on exposure Conduct baseline surveys Conduct individual tracking studies Increase knowledge on efficacy or mitigation measures

54 Recommendations Fund bird surveys Conduct boat-based surveys Conduct high-definition video aerial surveys Analyze ebird data NEXRAD radar

55 Increase knowledge on reducing hazards Avoid: identify biological hotspots Model species habitat relationships Model relative abundance by species and season Model biological diversity Model persistence Minimize: reduce the hazard Reduce lighting Research efficacy of curtailment Research increasing visibility Research visual and audio deterrents Research methods for monitoring Compensate: compensate for mortality or reduced productivity Increase knowledge on how to increase adult and juvenile survival Increase knowledge on how to increase reproductive success

56 Thank you!