SPECIALIST SURVEYING FEATURE
A REVOLUTION IN SURVEYING BIRDS AND MAMMALS
The past five years have seen a revolution in the way birds and marine mammals are surveyed as part of the consenting process for offshore windfarms, with the UK emerging as the world leader in digital aerial surveys. The potential impact on birds and mammals of proposed offshore windfarms is an important consideration in securing consent, so accurately counting the birds and mammals and identifying their species is important.
MODERN DIGITAL AERIAL SURVEYS In the past, boat-based observers equipped with little more than binoculars and clipboards carried out most offshore bird and mammal surveys. Modern digital aerial surveys instead use hi tech, ultra high resolution digital cameras fitted to aircraft to take thousands of images over the proposed windfarm area, capturing each and every animal ‘on film’. the process is usually faster, cheaper and more accurate. Importantly, aerial surveys are also safer, because by being quicker to complete, they require staff to spend less time offshore.
TAILOR MADE SURVEY SOLUTIONS
ROUND 3 ZONES Developers of the UK’s Round Three offshore wind farm zones relied heavily on digital aerial surveys, with regulators now increasingly following suit. Survey specialists ApEM worked on seven of the nine zones and were recently hired by Natural England and the Countryside Commission for Wales to carry out important surveys in the Outer Thames and Carmarthen Bay special protection areas.
ACCREDITATION
Stuart Clough, Remote Sensing Director at ApEM, said: “Aerial surveys are actually just the start of our work, when we gather the raw data. Back on the ground the heart of the process is our team of expert ornithologists who analyse every image. Our quality control systems mean that we’ve become the first company
Insight Marine Projects Ltd is a specialist hydrographic survey company providing tailor made solutions to the offshore renewable energy industry. The company regularly works in areas with challenging sea conditions on wave and tidal energy installations. They believe that some of the systems and equipment we have developed are directly relevant to the offshore wind industry as the next round of wind farms expand into areas of deeper water with stronger currents.
IN POSITION AT THE RIGHT TIME the survey/positioning challenge whilst working in demanding environments and with emerging technologies is to ensure that the construction vessel and associated equipment is all in position at the right time, and is able to stay there, in order to maximise the operating time available to the project construction team.
With the proper systems and equipment, operational time can be maximised to greatest effect whilst reducing potential downtime due to equipment failures, thereby helping to reduce overall project costs.
to gain accreditation from UKAS for counting and identifying birds in digital aerial photographs.”
APEM
www.apemltd.co.uk
DEPLOYED SYSTEMS INCLUDE... • bespoke tug management suites • Multi-sensor data buoy systems • Multi-channel data telemetry • Integration with Dp systems to visually warn project personnel of vessel run-offs
• CUbIt, the all-in-one navigation system offering multiple levels of hardware and software failover protection
A CASE STUDY Insight Marine projects recently provided survey support during the installation of a novel monopile foundation developed by bauer Renewables Ltd. An exceptional challenge was posed not only by the drilling works at a water depth of 37 meters, but also by the extremely strong currents.
Whilst wind turbines are not currently being constructed in these conditions, there are several transferrable systems and technologies that can be applied to the more challenging conditions being considered for the next round of wind farm developments, to help them achieve better cost efficiency and success.
Insight Marine Projects
www.insight-marine.co.uk
www.windenergynetwork.co.uk 109
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