Abstract
In 2010, a Masterplan (MP) on monitoring and research for the ecological effects of offshore wind farms was published (Boon et al., 2010). The MP consisted of the following:
- A description of all possible ecological impacts of the construction, presence and decommissioning of offshore wind farms (OWF).
- An inventory of the knowledge gaps in order to better assess their ecological effects.
- A description and prioritisation of the research that needed to be carried out to increase the knowledge level.
Based on this prioritised list of research plans that needed to be addressed, projects were selected that were given the highest priority for which funds were allocated. These projects have been carried out in 2010 and 2011. This selection, known as the ‘shortlist’, has been carried out by a consortium of research institutes and was finished in July 2011. The tender for this work was based on the terms of reference (ToR) set up by the Waterdienst, Rijkswaterstaat.
Deltares has been asked by Rijkswaterstaat to do the evaluation of the results of this ‘shortlist’ work. This means that the results of the various projects that have been carried out are compared to the research goals of the original prioritised list of projects as described in the MP and to the ToR for each project. In other words: do the results of the research projects answer the questions that they were supposed to answer?
This document describes the research goals of the projects described in chronological order, going from the MP, to the ToR, and to the tenders. It then compares the results of the research and monitoring projects to the earlier described research goals in the form of hypotheses. It concludes by describing the knowledge advancements and remaining questions.