e20fe9ab-eea6-4208-a69f-5f2b8491afc2 eng series ABP Marine Environmental Research 023 8071 1840 Quayside Suite Medina Chambers, Town Quay Southampton SO14 2AQ United Kingdom enquiries@thecrownestate.co.uk pointOfContact 2014-12-04 MEDIN Discovery Profile 2.3.8 urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::32630 2013, Xodus Group Ltd., Buchan Deep, Hywind Pilot Park Project EIA Scoping Report 2013-10-01 publication A-100142-S00-REPT-001 As part of their offshore wind portfolio, SWL has invested in the development of the Hywind floating offshore Wind Turbine Generator (WTG) Unit, a concept that represents the world’s first full scale floating wind turbine. A fullscale demonstration WTG Unit (Hywind Demo) has been successfully in operation 10 km off the Norwegian westcoast since 2009. During the four years of testing, the WTG Unit has been verified as a technically viable concept and SWL is now planning to develop a Pilot Park which will be used to demonstrate technological improvements, operation of multiple units, and cost reductions in a park configuration as the next step towards achieving the long term vision for developing floating wind on a commercial scale. This Scoping Report, and accompanying navigational Preliminary Hazards Assessment (PHA) has been prepared in order to support the development of the Hywind Scotland Pilot Park and represents a formal request for a Scoping Opinion from Marine Scotland and Aberdeenshire Council, in consultation with the relevant statutory consultees. The request for a Scoping Opinion from Marine Scotland is for the Pilot Park and export cable and all offshore infrastructure below mean high water springs (MHWS) and the request for a Scoping Opinion from Aberdeenshire Council is for the export cable onshore and grid connection works (all works above mean low water springs, MLWS). The Scoping Report has been produced to facilitate the identification and initial assessment of the potential environmental impacts associated with the Project. It identifies the potential interactions there may be between the proposed Project and the environment in order to establish studies and/or surveys that might be required in order to better understand these interactions. Similarly, the aim of the PHA is to identify potential navigational hazards associated with the Project and determine, through consultation, how these hazards should be addressed as part of the NRA. Scoping is one of the early stages of the EIA process (see Section 5). The EIA process identifies the areas of a Project where significant environmental effects may occur and outlines mitigation or management techniques aimed at reducing or offsetting these effects. SWL wishes to seek feedback and advice on any particular environmentally or socially important issues associated with the proposed Project, for which consideration will be required in the EIA and subsequent ES. Statoil +44 (0) 203 204 3200 +44 (0) 203 204 3600 One Kingdom Street London W2 6BD United Kingdom info@statoil.com http://www.statoil.com/en/Pages/default.aspx distributor Xodus Group Ltd The Auction House 63A George Street Edinburgh EH2 2JG info@xodusgroup.com www.xodusgroup.com originator Crown Estate Scotland 0131 260 6070 Quartermile Two, 2nd Floor, 2 Lister Square Edinburgh EH3 9GL enquiries@crownestatescotland.com custodian notPlanned Bird behaviour Seal abundance Cetacean abundance Reptile abundance Sedimentary structure Sediment grain size parameters Transport activity Transport in the water column SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary 2014-10-09 revision 86 Marine Environmental Data and Information Network Marine Environmental Data and Information Network Agreement for Lease Area Consenting http://www.marinedataexchange.co.uk/pages/terms-of-use.aspx copyright otherRestrictions copyright otherRestrictions http://www.marinedataexchange.co.uk/pages/terms-of-use.aspx http://www.marinedataexchange.co.uk/pages/terms-of-use.aspx eng environment transportation -1.5710164 -1.1812238 57.4107193 57.5657633 2013-09 2013-10 inapplicable inapplicable https://www.marinedataexchange.co.uk/details/CES-73/summary A link to the web service or dataset. https://www.marinedataexchange.co.uk A link to the general host site. series SWL has been awarded an Exclusivity Agreement by The Crown Estate (TCE) for the deployment of floating WTG Units in an area known as the Buchan Deep which is an area of deep water (95 to 120 m) located approximately 25 km off the coast at Peterhead, north east Scotland just outside the 12 nm territorial water limit (Figure 1-2). SWL is planning to deploy a small pilot wind farm (Pilot Park) comprising five of the Hywind Scotland WTG Units with a total maximum nameplate capacity of up to 30 MW. The Exclusivity Area is split into a northern and a southern part by the Forties to Cruden Bay pipelines which pass through the Exclusivity Area from north east to south west. The Pilot Park will be located either to the north or south of these pipelines. Electricity generated from the Pilot Park will be exported onshore to the local grid network via a new export cable to Peterhead. It should be noted that SWL are currently in the process of identifying an area based on the Exclusivity Area that will form the basis of their application to the TCE for an Agreement for Lease (AfL). One of the options under consideration as the AfL is illustrated in Figure 1-2 (proposed AfL Area). However, given that this proposed AfL Area is still subject to agreement with TCE and the grant of seabed rights, and extends 1,000 m beyond the northern boundary of the Exclusivity Area, all references in this Scoping Report will be made to both the Exclusivity Area and the proposed AfL Area.