Environmental impact Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Environmental impact - Research Paper Example This research will begin with the description of the project. In 2006, the Department of Trade and Industry highlighted the fact that in next 20 years, up to third of the UK’s oil and gas generating capacity will be exhausted. Renewable energy has always been part of the United Kingdom’s plan of reducing carbon dioxide omissions and also bridging the gap caused by aging nuclear power plants and dying fossil fuel. The plan also includes reducing UK’s dependencies on imported energy sources. The only way to address the issue was to increase the proportion of electricity generated from renewable resources such as wind, marine etc. A number of wind farm projects were put into consideration. One of which was the Beatrice Wind Farm project located at 25km off the east coast of Scotland. The project, which is a joint venture between Talisman Energy and Scottish and Southern Energy, consisted of two wind turbines designed to examine the possibility of creating a commerci ally large scale wind farm capable of generating large amount of energy. The two wind turbines, which are prototypes of the actual wind farm, are capable of generating 5MW of energy each going in water as deep as 45 meters. The cost of this demonstrator project is estimated to be around 41 million Euros. The actual development however will cover an approximate area of 132km2 and will be consisting of 184 turbines in total with the capacity of generating 920MW of energy. The project began in 2007 and was proposed to last 5 years in which these two prototype wind turbines were to be assessed. The construction will begin in 2014 and the farm will be fully operational by 2017. Figure 2) Beatrice wind turbine project showing the two demonstrator turbines (Retrieved from: http://www.beatricewind.co.uk/home/default.asp) The two demonstrator wind turbines, which are positioned 500m across each other, were given a run of 5 years by the authorities to merely asses the ‘goods and the bad s’ of the whole project. Its primary purpose was to better understand the impact of deepwater wind farms on the surrounding environment. Although there have been several wind farms already in operation on in UK and Scotland producing around 5 gigwatts GW of energy, a project of this magnitude require some assessment in the beginning. Since the projected area is also home to a number of different species of fish and seals, it is only appropriate to first asses its impact for a certain period of time and then draw any conclusions. Not only that, since it is the first deepwater wind farm project in the world, it adds an extra attention globally. The demonstrator project therefore plays a crucial role in determining whether the large scale farm is effective both in terms of generating energy and its overall cost. During any environmental assessment, the most important part of the process is the scoping process. It is in this stage of the project the key environmental issues are i dentified. It not only helps pinpointing the problem early in the stage but also allows mitigation design changes to be made. It is during this stage that a project is either continued with or is cancelled keeping in mind its environmental impacts. The scoping exercise of Beatrice wind farm project for this report is based on network diagram technique and the results can be found in the following table: Scoping Exercise to determine the main impacts: Potential Impacts Explanation Mitigation Effect on fish Electric field generated from the turbines my affect breeding or feeding abilities 1) Electric cables would be buried underground to minimize the effect. 2) Special insulation might be used on the cables to absorb electric fields. Interaction with birds Might cause disturbance in their migration. It may also affect their breeding and feeding behavior. 1) Careful selection of wind turbine blades. 2) Monitoring of bird movement in the area of the field through radar. Creation of unde rwater noise May interrupt marine mammal behavior 1) Selection of