Ecological Consequences of Offshore Wind (ECOWind)

HMC supported NERC and the Crown Estate in the development of a Partnership and Opportunity Programme to understand the Ecological Consequences of Offshore Wind (ECOWind). This programme will address critical gaps in scientific understanding regarding the complexity of interactions within the marine ecosystems that will be affected by the large-scale deployment of offshore wind infrastructure in the UK. It will also provide evidence to inform future marine policy, marine spatial planning, and offshore wind deployment decisions.

HMC led the drafting group for the science and business case to obtain approval for the programme. We also supported the development of innovative approaches to integration between science and policy to collaboratively develop understanding of the evolving evidence needs, and to ensure timely policy responses to emerging findings.

We led stakeholder engagement activities to identify potential user needs from government, the offshore wind industry, and NGOs which are fundamental for the academic community to inform the development of project proposals.

Key messages:

• HMC worked across the science policy interface to develop a £7 million research programme looking at the ecological consequences of offshore wind
• Our expertise in both policy and marine science was fundamental to the development of the business case for this important UK marine research programme
• HMC worked with academia, government, and industry to increase the impact of marine research and bridge communities of practice

Reports and Links

• https://nerc.ukri.org/research/funded/programmes/ecological-consequences-of-offshore-wind-ecowind/
• http://sciencesearch.defra.gov.uk/Document.aspx?Document=15217_HMC_MitigationofOW-Final.pdf