Environmental examinations and environmental impact assessment for the offshore wind farm “ARKONA-BECKEN SÜDOST”
The offshore wind farm "ARKONA-BECKEN SÜDOST" is a project conducted by AWE (Arkona wind farm development society). This wind farm planned in the Baltic Sea consists of 80 offshore wind energy converters with a performance of 5 MW each and in the long run may eventually represent an energy-economical replacement of the nuclear power station Greifswald, taken off the grid some years ago. The site of "ARKONA-BECKEN SÜDOST " is located at a distance of more than 35 km from the island of Rügen, and outside of planned marine and natural protection areas. The site has been designated in a land use planning process as a suitability area for offshore wind farming. The formal planning procedure started in October 2001 with a scoping conference in Stralsund. The environmental investigation for the EIA started soon afterwards. The OECOS team conducted ornithological and marine mammal surveys for over three years, coordinated all other environmental investigations and summarised the individual results in an overall environmental impact assessment, a FFH compatibility study and a final report of the ecological baseline studies. The project was approved in spring 2006.