Di Marcantonio, M.

Lauwaert, B.

Rumes, B.

Open Marine Archive

Assessing the environmental impact o f offshore wind farms in the 
Belgian part o f the North Sea
Rumes Bob, Di Marcantonio Marisa and Brigitte Lauwaert
Marine. Ecosystem Management Section, Management Unit o f the North Sea Mathematical Models, 
Royal Belgian Institute o f Natural Sciences, Gulledelle 100, 1 200 Brussels, Belgium 
E-mail: bob.rumes@mumm.ac.be
By 2020, renewable energy sources should account fo r 13% o f the Belgian electric ity consumption. 
Offshore wind farms are expected to contribute about one-tenth o f th is demand. In May 2004, the 
Belgian government designated a zone fo r the construction and explo ita tion o f installations fo r the 
production o f energy from  water, currents or wind. Every proposed project has to acquire a number 
o f federal permits, including the environmental permit. The environmental perm it procedure 
includes an environmental impact assessment (EIA) by the MUMM. The EIA pertains to both direct 
environmental impacts (such as on biodiversity, fauna, sediments and hydrodynamics) as well as 
more indirect environmental impacts (such as oil-spill risks and green house gas emissions), and 
sociological impacts (such as on seascape or effects on other maritime activities). The EIA is based 
on an environmental impact study (EIS) subm itted by the applicant, on the currently available 
scientific knowledge and on the results o f existing m onitoring programmes. Since 2004, three 
offshore wind farm  projects, to ta lling  ~880 MegaWatt installed capacity, have been granted 
environmental permits, w ith a fourth  project currently in the licensing procedure. Every 
environmental perm it comes w ith a number (site- and project-specific) conditions aimed at 
m itigating or m in im izing the environmental impact o f the activities. When certain unavoidable 
environmental impacts are foreseen during the EIA, a coordinated long-term m onitoring programme 
is drafted to determine the extent o f these impacts.
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Assessing the environmental impact of offshore wind farms in the Belgian part of the North Sea

 
 
 
 
 
Domain concessions are granted based on various  
criteria, including expected energy production/km²,  
use of innovative technology, feasibility of the project, 
added value with regards to competing projects…. 
    
 
 
 
  
Assessing the environmental impact of offshore wind 
farms in the Belgian part of the North Sea 
 
Bob Rumes1, Marisa Di Marcantonio1 & Brigitte Lauwaert1  
1 Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Management Unit of the North Sea Mathematical Models,  
Marine. Ecosystem Management Section, Brussels, Belgium  
 
email: Bob.Rumes@mumm.ac.be 
Introduction 
 
By 2020, renewable energy sources should account for 13% of the Belgian electricity consumption. Offshore wind farms are expected to 
contribute to this with ~2000 MW installed capacity in the Belgian part of the North Sea. Here we illustrate how the environmental impact of 
every different project is assessed in the process of applying for an environmental permit. 
Procedure 
Before being granted or denied, every project has to pass through an 
environmental permit procedure, pursuant to the law on the protection of the 
marine environment (January 20th 1999) and two Royal Decrees.  
Figure 1. Overview of the domain concessions for offshore wind 
farms in the Belgian part of the North Sea, with indication of the 
nearby Dutch zone for offshore wind farms. 
 
 
Results 
 
 Since 2004, four offshore wind farm projects, totaling ~1200 Megawatt installed capacity, have been granted environmental permits 
 Site- and Project-specific mitigating measures have been defined for each project 
 An integrated monitoring programme has been drafted to: 
1. Determine the extent of the environmental impact of the projects 
2. Evaluate the effectiveness of the mitigating measures 
3. Monitor the compliance of the wind farm projects with the mitigating measures defined in their environmental permit 
  
 
Resulting in an adaptive management of the environmental permit  
aimed at reducing the environmental impact of existing and future offshore wind farms.  
http://www.mumm.ac.be/EN/Management/Sea-based/windmills.php  
 1. The Royal decree concerning the procedure of permit and authorization of certain activities in 
the marine areas under jurisdiction of Belgium (September 7th 2003)  
 2. The Royal decree concerning the rules of the environmental impact assessment (September 
9th 2003) 
1. Develop a new project 
for an offshore wind farm 
2. Apply for a domain concession in the zone designated for the 
production of electricity from wind, water or currents (Figure 1). 
4. Compose an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) and 
apply for an Environmental Permit  
Go back to 1. 
3. The domain 
concession is 
granted to 
your project? 
 
 
 
  
Project developer 
MUMM 
5. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) 
determines impact of the project  
with regards to:  
Public consultation 
International  consultation 
on transboundary impacts 
Results of existing 
monitoring programmes 
6. Is the env. 
impact of the 
project 
acceptable?  
7. Can mitigating 
measures be used to 
sufficiently reduce the 
env. impact of the 
project? 
Yes 
No 
Yes Yes 
Go back to 1. 
No 
No 
8. Positive advise to the Minister to grant 
an environmental permit to the project! 
•climate and atmosphere,  
•hydrodynamics and sedimentology, 
•(underwater) noise  
•risk, safety and toxic substances,  
•macrobenthos, epibenthos and fish,  
•marine mammals and birds, 
•electromagnetic fields, 
•interactions with other human activities, 
•seascape and cultural heritage  


Assessing the environmental impact of offshore wind farms in the Belgian part of the North Sea

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