Scientists from the National Oceanography Centre are joining a collaborative effort to assess the impact of offshore wind farms on the ecosystem. The £7m project see experts provide evidence to help inform marine policy and sustainable management solutions for offshore wind developments to tackle the climate change crisis.

ACCELERATE is part of the Ecological Consequences of Offshore Wind (ECOWind), a cross-discipline programme funded by NERC, the Crown Estate and Defra.

There are synergies between all ECOWind Projects, as scientists from NOC will be working across the programme’s four projects, ACCELERATE, ECOWINGS, PELAgIO, and BOWIE.

ECOWind logo

Website: https://ecowind.uk/projects/ecowind-accelerate

PI: Dr Katrien Van Landeghem, Bangor University

NOC contact: Dr Lucy Bricheno
Email: luic at noc.ac.uk

Dates
–
Funding

NERC – Strategic Research

Aim

To investigate the ecological implications of accelerated seabed mobility around windfarms, scientists will be studying the combined impacts of climate change and offshore wind farms on seabed habitats and organisms, including impacts to their distribution and biodiversity. By looking at the impact of the climate crisis and sea-level rise on the seabed, the ECOWind-ACCELERATE team will be able to gain an understanding of the baseline changes in sediment movement and how modifications to the seabed affect the wider marine ecosystem around the UK.