Benefits and impacts of offshore wind farms on benthic marine biodiversity in a life cycle assessment context

作者：Liv Kristensen Stranddorf, Francesca Verones, Stig Irving Olsen · 发表于：The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1007/s11367-025-02504-0 · 被引用次数：6 · 研究领域：Coastal and Marine Management、Marine Ecology and Invasive Species、Marine and Offshore Engineering Studies

Abstract Purpose The global capacity of offshore wind energy is rapidly expanding, with the North Sea leading this growth. However, this region also hosts some of the world’s oldest offshore wind farms, requiring decommissioning in the coming years. Apart from their benefits for energy generation, constructing and decommissioning offshore wind farms physically affect the marine ecosystem. This study aims to develop characterization factors to quantify impacts on marine benthic biodiversity, assessing changes in species richness and accounting for both positive and negative effects. Method The study utilizes data on species richness at 17 artificial offshore structures and reference seabed sites in the North Sea. Polynomial models are developed to express the species richness on the structure as a function of structure age. The study considers two construction scenarios and three decommissioning scenarios and compares species richness on the artificial structure to the reference seabed. Additionally, it investigates species composition changes in different taxonomic groups and alien species. The richness models are used to develop characterization factors for biodiversity impacts, expressed as the time-integrated potentially disappeared fraction of species. Results and discussion The developed characterization factors quantify potential loss or gain of species across taxonomic groups, enhancing the representation of biodiversity in life cycle assessment. While species richness...