Presentations

Abstract

Increasingly, offshore wind farms require the integration of nature-inclusive design (NID) solutions to mitigate and manage the ecological impact of offshore infrastructures, and to create opportunities to support, enhance, and restore marine biodiversity. Recent tenders have included specific ecological requirements for the design of nature-inclusive scour and cable protection. In response, offshore developers and contractors are seeking new materials and innovative technologies to design alternative solutions to current industry standards. Artificial hard substrates associated with offshore wind infrastructure, such as scour protection, offer a newly constructed habitat and, if designed correctly, can provide an opportunity for biodiversity enhancements at scale. Structures can be designed with environmentally sensitive materials and additional complexity to support increased settlement, refuge, and feeding opportunities for a wide range of marine organisms. Leveraging needed infrastructure to promote and enhance biodiversity at scale represents a shift in design paradigm, compared to more localized measures such as add-ons that are often not a core part of the offshore infrastructures. This shift is driving NID innovation with the goal to increase the ecological value of offshore wind farm infrastructures and upscale desired ecological effects. In this context, we will present results from the development and validation of a novel ecological and interlocking scour protection solution. Details of the design will be discussed, to highlight the opportunities to improve ecological uplift, achieve the required hydraulic stability, and reduce the amount of materials required for scour protection, compared to traditional rock - while using standard installation procedures. The protocol and biological monitoring results from a pilot installation will be presented, along with results from physical model testing.