By 2012 400.000 Danish homes will be supplied with electricity from the 400 MW Anholt Offshore Wind Farm, which - when it comes on stream - will be the world’s largest wind farm. The wind farm is a direct outcome of the 2008-2011 energy policy adopted by the Danish Parliament early 2008.
Energinet.dk – the owner and operator of the overall energy infrastructure in Denmark – has been responsible for the feasibility studies while DHI in cooperation with Rambøll have acted as technical advisors and prepared the EIA.
It took ten hectic months to complete the comprehensive EIA, which also is unique in the sense that this is the first time a similar EIA has been executed prior to inviting the contractors to bid on the erection of the wind farm.
DHI’s contribution to the EIA has covered a wide range of activities designed to establish the baseline for the benthic fauna, marine mammals as well as birds with regard to migration and wintering. Furthermore comprehensive surveys and monitoring programs have been performed to establish metocean data and study the impact on sediment dispersal and coastal morphology.
With the development of wind farms in offshore waters developers will rely increasingly on model-based solutions to various issues related to environmental work involved in the planning, construction and operation phases. Based on experiences from a range of projects in northern Europe, DHI has developed and applied an integrated environmental modelling concept, which utilises advanced ecological and habitat modelling technologies. The concept has been instrumental in relation to the baseline and impact assessment of the Anholt Offshore Wind Farm. The study documented how integrated models can enable offshore wind farm projects to better demonstrate ecological sustainability in offshore waters, even in the presence of tight time schedules for baseline investigations.
The wind farm will be developed and constructed by DONG Energy and will have 3.6 MW wind mills delivered by Siemens Wind Power.
