An innovative new £2.7 million project deploying state of the art listening equipment in the Celtic Sea, to create an interactive map of marine mammal behaviour, has been launched by the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, in partnership with Celtic Sea Power and the University of Exeter.
The three-year SubSea Soundscape project, funded by The Crown Estate’s Offshore Wind Evidence and Change (OWEC) programme, aims to strengthen understanding around potential environmental interactions with future floating offshore wind turbines. The OWEC programme funds a range of research projects to de-risk and accelerate the delivery of offshore wind infrastructure, while enabling marine and coastal ecosystems to thrive.
Marie Kelly, Business Development Team Leader at ORE Catapult, said: “The SubSea Soundscape project will provide valuable insight into underwater noise conditions, and the marine mammals present in various locations across the Celtic Sea. By combining new and existing acoustic data, we will be able to establish a marine mammal and noise evidence base, informing planning and consenting decisions for floating offshore wind.
“This could be groundbreaking for floating offshore wind development in the Celtic Sea – reducing consenting times, reducing environmental impact and creating more efficient and sustainable use of the seabed.”
Last October, researchers at ORE Catapult deployed 21 marine acoustic recorders at key locations, around 20km apart, across the Celtic Sea.
The ORE Catapult Team prepare at Pembroke Dock
Professor Matthew Witt, Associate Professor in the Natural Environment at the University of Exeter, said: “These 21 listening stations fitted to the seabed act like dictaphones, recording sound across a range of bandwidths, providing a rich, comprehensive picture of the underwater environment that we can’t gain from other technologies such as satellites.
“This project is pivotal. Previously, lots of small-scale surveys have looked at how animals could respond to large engineering projects. However, many have failed to recognise that animals live on a large geographical scale. As wind farms increase in number and size, it’s vital to assess their potential effects on the environment, at the scale of which these animals actually exist, rather than in small areas of water that they could occupy at any one time.
“By having a long-term project where we gather the data prior to large scale development, we hope to provide a strong evidence base for people to make informed decisions about how these farms could be built and how they’re operated.”
Crucially, the data collected will be made publicly available through the OWEC programme’s Marine Data Exchange, so that developers can better understand potential interactions between marine mammals and offshore wind equipment, and regulators and statutory bodies can build an effective picture of suitable locations for development.
SubSea Soundscape Equipment
The use of smart technology to gain environmental data could potentially speed up consenting processes across the UK if this approach was more widely adopted. Consenting processes for major infrastructure projects like offshore wind farms are lengthy, complex and reliant on robust baseline data. The SubSea Soundscape project and wider OWEC programme aim to address existing evidence gaps and support accelerated decision making – so that the UK can move faster towards reaching offshore wind deployment targets.
Olivia Thomas, Head of Planning and Technical for Marine at The Crown Estate, said: “The OWEC programme plays a vital role in funding projects which increase the evidence base we hold on offshore wind interactions in the marine environment, enabling us to further derisk and accelerate its deployment – crucial to the UK’s clean energy transition.
“The data collected by this monitoring equipment will enable us to understand more about the distribution of marine mammals in the Celtic Sea and could help inform our spatial mapping approach to future offshore wind leasing.”
Neil Farrington, Strategic Offshore Development Manager at Celtic Sea Power, added: “The SubSea Soundscape project is a natural progression of the regional environmental characterisation work that Celtic Sea Power initiated in 2021. It builds on our existing bank of wind, metocean, bird and other key data and has supported development of our SealSpy capability – an acoustic classifier to detect seal vocalisations underwater.”
The project ends in December 2027.
Welsh/Cymru Version
Technoleg glyfar newydd i gofnodi ymddygiad mamaliaid morol ar raddfa fawr yn y Môr Celtaidd
Bydd prosiect arloesol newydd, gwerth £2.7 miliwn, yn defnyddio offer gwrando o’r radd flaenaf yn y Môr Celtaidd i greu map rhyngweithiol o ymddygiad mamaliaid morol. Lansiwyd y prosiect gan Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, mewn partneriaeth â Celtic Sea Power a Phrifysgol Caerwysg.
Mae SubSea Soundscape yn brosiect tair blynedd o hyd a ariennir gan raglen OWEC (Offshore Wind Evidence and Change) Ystad y Goron. Ei nod yw rhoi gwell dealltwriaeth i ni o sut gallai tyrbinau gwynt arnofiol effeithio ar amgylchedd y môr. Mae OWEC yn ariannu amrywiaeth o brosiectau ymchwil i leihau risgiau ac i gyflymu’r broses o ddarparu seilwaith ynni gwynt ar y môr, gan alluogi ecosystemau morol ac arfordirol i ffynnu.
Dywedodd Marie Kelly, Arweinydd Tîm Datblygu Busnes ORE Catapult: “Bydd SubSea Soundscape yn rhoi cipolwg gwerthfawr ar amodau sŵn o dan wyneb y dŵr, a’r mamaliaid morol sy’n bresennol mewn amrywiol leoliadau ar hyd a lled y Môr Celtaidd. Drwy gyfuno data acwstig newydd a data sy’n bodoli eisoes, byddwn yn gallu sefydlu sylfaen dystiolaeth ar gyfer mamaliaid morol a sŵn. Bydd hyn yn dylanwadu ar benderfyniadau cynllunio a chydsynio ar gyfer datblygiadau ynni gwynt arnofiol ar y môr.
“Gallai hyn fod yn arloesol ar gyfer y gwaith o ddatblygu seilwaith ynni gwynt arnofiol yn y Môr Celtaidd. Bydd yn lleihau’r amseroedd a gymerir i roi caniatâd i brosiectau, yn lleihau’r effaith ar yr amgylchedd, ac yn helpu i ddefnyddio gwely’r môr yn fwy effeithlon a chynaliadwy.”
Fis Hydref y llynedd, defnyddiodd ymchwilwyr ORE Catapult 21 o recordwyr acwstig morol mewn lleoliadau allweddol, tua 20km oddi wrth ei gilydd, ledled y Môr Celtaidd.
Dywedodd yr Athro Matthew Witt, Athro Cyswllt yn yr Amgylchedd Naturiol ym Mhrifysgol Caerwysg: “Mae’r 21 gorsaf wrando hyn sydd wedi’u gosod ar wely’r môr yn gweithredu fel dictaffonau. Maen nhw’n recordio sain ar draws ystod o led band, gan roi darlun cyfoethog a chynhwysfawr o’r amgylchedd tanddwr na allwn ei gael o dechnolegau eraill fel lloerennau.
“Mae’r prosiect hwn yn allweddol. Cyn hyn, mae llawer o arolygon ar raddfa fach wedi edrych ar sut gallai anifeiliaid ymateb i brosiectau peirianneg mawr. Ond mae llawer wedi methu â chydnabod bod anifeiliaid yn byw ar raddfa ddaearyddol fawr. Wrth i ffermydd gwynt gynyddu o ran nifer a maint, mae’n hanfodol asesu eu heffeithiau posibl ar yr amgylchedd, ar raddfa’r hyn y mae’r anifeiliaid yma’n bodoli mewn gwirionedd, yn hytrach nag mewn ardaloedd bach o ddŵr y gallen nhw eu meddiannu ar unrhyw adeg benodol.
“Drwy gael prosiect hirdymor lle rydyn ni’n casglu’r data cyn datblygiad ar raddfa fawr, rydyn ni’n gobeithio rhoi sylfaen dystiolaeth gref i bobl wneud penderfyniadau gwybodus ynghylch sut gellid adeiladu’r ffermydd hyn a sut maen nhw’n cael eu gweithredu.”
Bydd y data a gesglir hefyd ar gael i’r cyhoedd drwy Gyfnewidfa Data Morol OWEC. Bydd yn galluogi datblygwyr i ddeall yn well sut mae tyrbinau gwynt ar y môr yn effeithio ar famaliaid morol. Bydd rheoleiddwyr a chyrff statudol hefyd yn gallu adeiladu darlun effeithiol o leoliadau addas ar gyfer datblygiadau.
Gallai defnyddio technoleg glyfar i gael data ar yr amgylchedd gyflymu prosesau cydsynio ledled y DU pe bai’r dull hwn yn cael ei fabwysiadu’n ehangach. Mae prosesau cydsynio ar gyfer prosiectau sy’n cynnwys seilwaith mawr fel ffermydd gwynt ar y môr yn hir, yn gymhleth ac yn ddibynnol ar ddata sylfaenol cadarn. Nod y prosiect SubSea Soundscape a rhaglen ehangach OWEC yw mynd i’r afael â’r bylchau o ran tystiolaeth sy’n bodoli ar hyn o bryd ac i helpu i sicrhau bod prosesau’n cael eu gwneud yn gyflymach. Bydd hyn yn galluogi’r DU i symud yn gynt tuag at gyrraedd targedau ar gyfer defnyddio ynni gwynt ar y môr.
Dywedodd Olivia Thomas, Pennaeth Cynllunio a Thechnegol ar gyfer Gwasanaethau Morol Ystad y Goron: “Mae rhaglen OWEC yn chwarae rhan hollbwysig wrth ariannu prosiectau sy’n cynyddu’r sylfaen dystiolaeth sydd gennym ar sut mae seilwaith ynni gwynt yn effeithio ar fywyd y môr. Mae hyn yn ein galluogi i leihau risgiau’r seilwaith ymhellach a chyflymu ei ddefnydd – sy’n hanfodol er mwyn symud y DU tuag at ddefnyddio ynni glân.
“Bydd y data a gesglir gan yr offeryn monitro hwn yn ein galluogi i ddeall mwy am ddosbarthiad mamaliaid morol yn y Môr Celtaidd. Gallai hefyd ein helpu wrth gynllunio a phenderfynu ar leoliadau datblygiadau ynni gwynt ar y môr yn y dyfodol.”
Ychwanegodd Neil Farrington, Rheolwr Datblygu Alltraeth Strategol Celtic Sea Power: “Mae SubSea Soundscape yn ddatblygiad naturiol o’r gwaith nodweddu amgylcheddol rhanbarthol a gychwynnwyd gan CSP yn 2021. Mae’n adeiladu ar ein banc presennol o ddata meteor-gefnforol, data’n ymwneud â’r gwynt ac adar, a rhai allweddol eraill, ac mae wedi cefnogi datblygiad ein SealSpy – dosbarthwr acwstig sy’n canfod lleisiau morloi o dan y dŵr.”
Bydd y prosiect yn dod i ben ym mis Rhagfyr 2027.
