Workshop entitled "Understanding cumulative impacts, from pre-consent predictive CIA ( Cumulative Impact Assessments ) to post-consent monitoring at multiple project scales" as part of the 2nd International Conference on Environmental Interactions of Marine Renewable Energy Technologies, Stornoway, May 2014

1. Recent experience of CIA in
renewables consenting in
Scotland
Ian Davies
Marine Scotland Science

2. Planning
authority
Licensing
authority
Science
support
Marine Scotland’s roles in renewable energy

3. Consents and licences in Scotland
• Marine Scotland Act and Marine and Coastal Access Act
Licence
• Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 (s.36)
• Section 44 European Protected Species (EPS)
• Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act
• Energy Act (2004) Decommissioning issued by DECC

4. EC EIA Directive. Assess effects on:
Human beings
Fauna and flora
Landscape/seascape
Material assets
Cultural heritage
EC Habitats Directive: Effects on protected
sites and species
SPAs
SACs
Requirement for CIA

5. Moray Firth
wind farms
Consented
2014

6. To avoid deterioration of the habitats of the qualifying species or
significant disturbance to the qualifying species, thus ensuring that the
integrity of the site is maintained and the site makes an appropriate
contribution to achieving favourable conservation status for each of the
qualifying features; and
To ensure for the qualifying species that the following are established
then maintained in the long term:
• (i) Population of the species as a viable component of the site*
• (ii) Distribution of the species within site
• (iii) Distribution and extent of habitats supporting the species
• (iv) Structure, function and supporting processes of habitats
supporting the species
• (v) No significant disturbance of the species
Bottlenose dolphin
Harbour (common) seal

7. Assessment framework
Moray Firth developers worked with University of Aberdeen to
develop framework for assessing effects of pile driving to harbour
seal populations
Got regulatory and SNCB buy in early in the process
Generic enough to
allow use for other
species in other areas
Draws on available
data and supplements
with expert opinion
where data not
available

8. Areas and issues included in cumulative
assessments
Carried out at different “regional” scales for different species
Defined by population range
Harbour seals assessed at 2 levels: Moray Firth (and Firths of Forth and
Tay)
Bottlenose dolphins assessed at whole east coast level
Main issue considered to be noise from pile
driving
Assessments looked at potential effects on
survival and reproductive rates based on level of
exposure to noise
Exposure to PTS had influence on survival and
disturbance had effect on reproductive ability
Population modelling used to assess the
effect of these changes to survival and
reproduction in the long term
Example output from population
model for harbour seals

9. Monitoring
• Funding of population and demographic data collection for
harbour seals and bottlenose dolphins (Aberdeen and St
Andrews universities)
• Passive acoustic monitoring of dolphins and porpoises on east
coast (MSS) to allow assessment of changes to distribution
– Using CPODs to detect porpoise and dolphin presence and
SM2Ms to record dolphin whistles for species ID

10. Moray Firth
wind farms
Consented
2014

11. Species of negligible
concern
Black-legged kittiwake,
Northern fulmar,
Great skua and
Arctic skua
SNCBs advised no adverse effect on site integrity
using a qualitative assessment due to the minimal
predicted effects.

12. Great black-backed gull,
Herring gull,
Puffin,
Razorbill and
Guillemot)
Full quantitative assessment required
Species of greater
concern

13. What was
the
problem?
Displacement
proportion of birds displaced
birds on water, using water, in flight or all potentially vulnerable
proportion of birds adult
proportion of adults breeding
proportion of adults from Colony X, Y and Z
mean, peak or mean peak abundance estimate
proportiobn of birds that fail to breed successfully
each displaced bird from a discrete pair
Collision
Avoidance rate
breeding season
nocturnal activity
flap/ gliding flight
attraction to survey vessles
rotor speed - mean, seasonal mean
Apportioning
SNH approach
At-sea flight direction information
GPS tracking data
Starting populations
SPA vs non-SPA colonies
Thresholds Population Viability Analysis (PVA)
Potential Biological Removal (PBR)
Starting population
Maintain +ve trajectory
What is acceptable
f-value for use in PBR
PBR in relation to productivity effects

14. Why was it a problem?
• Difficult to identify differences in approaches
taken.
• Lack of transparency if different approaches used
without clear rationale
• Unclear whether different values can be
combined for CIA
• May artificially bias conclusions for/ against one
project
• May result in CIA conclusions being opaque or
open to challenge

15. How was it resolved?
• Discussions between developers, SNCBs and
MSS
• Aim to reconcile any differences where
possible
• Clarification of reasons for any remaining
differences
• Re-running collision or displacement effect
assessments using Common Currency as
required

16. Assessment of consequences
for populations
• SNCBs favoured use of Potential Biological
Removal (PBR).
• MSS developed Acceptable Biological Change
(ABC) method.
– Probabalistic population modelling
– Accommodate mortality and productivity
– Not result in significant additional risk to the
populations of concern

17. Consequences
• Windfarms licensed on a reduced scale
• Lessons learned to feed into advice and guidance.
• More strategic approach e.g. PVAs for key
colonies/ populations, estimating effects at a
regional scale
• Post-consent monitoring????

18. • CIA is a significant hurdle and should be
discussed early in the application process.
• Predictable challenges:
– Definition of scope
– Timing of projects
– Quantification
– Underwater collision
– Displacement and consequences
– Population models and assessment methods
– Horizon : Basking sharks, other protected
fish, new MPAs/SPAs
Lessons for wave and tidal