Hi Everyone-
 
I thought the Sea Grant Renewable Energy listserv might be interested in this report we recently completed for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on how to develop a monitoring plan for offshore renewable energy projects (see press release and web link below) .

Best,
Michelle

-- 
Michelle Carnevale
Project Manager, Coastal Resources Center
Extension Specialist, Rhode Island Sea Grant College Program
Graduate School of Oceanography, The University of Rhode Island
Office: 401-874-6493   Web: www.crc.uri.edu & seagrant.gso.uri.edu

University of Rhode Island helps develop national environmental monitoring tools for offshore renewable energy development

Any type of offshore development has the potential to impact the marine environment in some way. Unlike with oil platforms that have long been established in U.S. waters, there is much less certainty about how offshore renewable energy technologies such as wind and tidal power will affect the ecosystems in which they are developed.

Several federal entities collaborated to fund a National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP) project to identify potential environmental effects that developers should monitor for, as well as techniques for how to do so.

Recognizing that each proposed development and each ecosystem is unique, the University of Rhode Island designed monitoring programs that can be tailored to each development project for both during development and post-construction. Researchers generated a "decision tree" to help guide regulators in designing monitoring requirements depending on the specifications of the project and its location.

Applied Science Associates, Inc., one of the project partners, also developed software that provides regulators with a tool to help analyze the cumulative environmental impacts of a proposed project. Regulators input the data they have on the distribution of natural resources or human activities (for instance, sea turtle and whale feeding areas, or fish habitat) in an area where a project is being proposed, and the software helps regulators compare and choose which site may potentially have less of an environmental impact.

These monitoring tools and techniques were completed and delivered to the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), which oversees offshore renewable energy development, in late 2012, and are helping to inform the development of national standards for this emerging industry.

"Companies want to understand how to most efficiently and effectively meet BOEM's environmental data requirements. BOEM is now better positioned to answer that question," said Maureen Bornholdt, program manager for BOEM's Office of Renewable Energy Programs. "As a result of this project, BOEM is developing guidelines that clarify the information that BOEM and other federal agencies require to adequately address the impacts of offshore renewable energy projects to the environment."€

To learn more about this project or to download the final report, visit http://seagrant.gso.uri.edu/coast/nopp.html.

This project was funded by BOEM, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. The University of Rhode Island, through its Graduate School of Oceanography, Department of Ocean Engineering, Coastal Resources Center, Rhode Island Sea Grant, and the College of Environmental and Life Sciences, led the project. The R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council and Rhode Island-based Applied Science Associates, Inc. served as major partners for this effort. NOPP is a collaboration of federal agencies to provide leadership and coordination of national oceanographic research and education initiatives.

On 4/10/2013 12:27 PM, Christopher Bartlett wrote: