Following successful award of exclusive development rights from The Crown Estate, East Anglia Offshore Wind Limited (EAOW), (a joint venture company between Scottish Power Renewables and Vattenfall Wind Power) commissioned detailed technical studies to support a consent application and associated Environmental Statement (ES) for the East Anglia THREE and FOUR windfarms.
7.
Information derived from these studies will be used to inform the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). This is with respect to predicted impacts of the construction, operation and decommissioning of the export cable route and to assist in the development of mitigation measures where agreed and appropriate. This will aid in the ES development in support of the consent application.
8.
To address these aspects, Fugro EMU Limited (Fugro EMU) was commissioned to undertake a benthic ecology sampling survey of the East Anglia THREE and FOUR export cable corridor.
9.
In addition, sampling was undertaken at selected sites within the East Anglia THREE and FOUR windfarms. Accordingly, this document presents the survey methods used, data collected, and gives a characterisation of the subtidal benthic environment within and around East Anglia THREE and FOUR cable corridors in terms of the seabed habitats available and their influence on associated biological communities. In addition, the report presents further data collected for the East Anglia THREE and FOUR windfarms.
10.4.1 Aims of Study 10.
Between September 2010 and January 2011, a zone wide benthic and epibenthic characterisation survey was undertaken by Marine Ecological Surveys Limited (MESL). APEM Limited was commissioned by EAOW to assess whether further benthic and epibenthic samples were required. Power analysis was undertaken on the previous dataset. It was concluded that no further sampling was required within East Anglia THREE and FOUR. The East Anglia THREE and FOUR cable corridor was partially surveyed previously and as such further surveys were required. The current surveys therefore were to infill areas within the East Anglia THREE and FOUR cable route not previously surveyed.
Benthic Characterisation Report November 2013
East Anglia THREE and FOUR Offshore Cable Corridor
