Launch of Infographic: Avoiding and Minimising Environmental Impacts from Offshore Wind and Grid Infrastructure

In order to support the deployment of offshore wind and grid in a nature-friendly manner, OCEaN – North & Baltic Seas has identified 80 measures through which wind and grid developers can minimise potential environmental impacts on marine ecosystems. This work includes measures that reflect the first two steps of the mitigation hierarchy – avoidance and minimisation. This was done by combining the fragmented knowledge on available avoidance and minimisation measures for offshore wind and grid infrastructure, including the most recent, relevant, and available information, and finding common ground between the diverse stakeholders that make up OCEaN. Furthermore, ‘best practice’ measures were identified, which are implemented across multiple sites and are proven to effectively reduce negative environmental impacts.

In 2024, OCEaN presented this work in the report ‘Avoidance and Minimisation of Environmental Impacts from Offshore Wind and Grid Infrastructure‘. We are now proud to announce the launch of an infographic summarising identified avoidance and minismiation measures which support the nature-friendly deployment of offshore wind and grid infrastructure.

We invite you to explore the infographic, report, and our Mitigation Measures Database, which includes a summary of collected measures to help developers avoid and minimise potential environmental impacts on marine ecosystems. A full collection of these measures, their current implementation status, and real-world examples are available upon request.

It is our hope that this infographic provides a comprehensive and accessible overview and, alongside our report and database, can inspire action and guide decision makers and developers towards achieving a nature-friendly energy transition at sea.

The measures included in this infographic represent possible options and are not intended to be comprehensive. Their effectiveness depends on the specific environmental conditions. As such their application should be determined on a project-by-project and site-specific basis and informed by robust impact assessments.