Under the French law on offshore wind farms (“Essoc”), the French government is responsible for the initial stages of the authorisation procedure for the construction of an offshore wind farm and for the connection to the national network. This is particularly true when it comes to assessing the present environmental situation in the areas that will be covered by the tender procedures for the installation of future projects.
Setec has mobilised an expert, multidisciplinary team to carry out an initial documentation review and the necessary field studies for all sections studied over a period of 1 to 2 years:
- For water quality: measurements and water sampling (1/month), mussel caging and DGT sensors
- For underwater noise: passive listening with hydrophones and C-PODS (continuous)
- For airborne noise: passive listening (2/year)
- For marine habitats and benthic communities: grab samples (2/year), videos and photos by ROV (1/year)
- For plankton: sampling (1/month)
- For fish stocks: scientific fishing (1/season)
- For avifauna and marine megafauna: surveys by boat and by plane, with observers (1/month)
- For chiropterans: passive listening on land and at sea (continuously from April to October)
- Landscape: description and identification of issues
The protocols were drawn up and implemented in consultation with scientific experts.
The logic of the Avoid – Reduce – Compensate (ERC in French) sequence must be rigorously applied as soon as the site is identified, to encourage exemplary development of wind farms, incorporating environmental concerns and issues.
