Abstract
Denmark has ambitious goals for the development of renewable energy. A major part of this progress is planned to be within offshore wind development.
This guidance document has been developed for the Danish Energy Agency (DEA). The document complements the current legislation in Denmark with further guidance on the requirements for the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) of offshore wind projects.
The aim of the guidance is to support authorities and developers in the impact assessment procedures and methodologies related to the marine natural environment of offshore wind farms (OWF) in Denmark. The documets is limited to marine biological effects and does not cover the elaboration of a full EIA. This guidance document focuses primarily on the EIA phase in its time span from the license for preliminary investigations to the time of being granted the license to establish the wind farm.
The guidance document is split into two parts. Part A (chapters 2-7) introduces the legal framework and the EIA overall process and procedures. Part B (chapters 8-13) presents details related to the marine environment focusing on benthic flora and fauna, fish, marine mammals, bats and birds. The second part of the guidance document is primarily based on experience from Danish and other European studies and includes acknowledged survey methods, requirements for documentation, testing methods and, wherever possible, guidance for analytical methods and extent.