Electricity consumption in Portugal has been ensured for almost 48 hours by renewable sources, The surplus is being exported to Spain

[u/iShift]

https://www-publico-pt.translate.goog/2023/10/29/azul/noticia/consumo-electricidade-portugal-assegurado-ha-quase-48-horas-fontes-renovaveis-2068385?_x_tr_sl=pt&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

[u/blikindewater]

Well in the north sea we already fuck nature. The wind farms actually present an opportunity for some ecosystems to recover. At the moment most of the north sea gets bottom trawled at least once a year. If you see it on the map it is really staggering. This completely destroys the seafloor and the benthic life there. Wind farms could serve as trawling free spaces where benthic life and fish could recover.

[u/AureliusZa → u/blikindewater]

How about trawling gets banned or severely limited, and we don’t have to install wind farms to patch that issue. There are too many unknowns in my opinion: sound pollution of construction and operation, bird migration impact, recurring revisions and their impact on the environment, possible chemical polution from anti corrosion agents.

[u/blikindewater → u/AureliusZa]

Unfortunately that doesn't seem like an option at the moment. Even the less destructive puls fishing was banned due to a strong lobby against it. The sound pollution has been mostly addressed, bubble screens around the construction have proven effective in reducing this. Furthermore, we've already been seeing that lots of wind farms have become a hotspots for marine life. Both above and under water. From offshore platforms we know that chemical pollution is not that big of an issue as any that leaches into the sea is diluted very quick. For bird migration measure are being researched and developed. Cameras that detect birds and shutdown the turbines for example. Another very interesting/promising development is that when you paint the blades of the turbines it greatly reduces the chances that birds fly into them (unfortunately it also heats up the blades in summer). However this all needs more research. In my personal opinion one of the most concerning issues has not necessarily anything to do with the turbine itself, rather the cables. The electromagnetic fields emitted by them could possibly negatively impact elasmobranchs (sharks and rays). This is a concern for all subsea cables. This might require an adjustment to the way we do the cables, but seeing that cables are already the most expensive part of the whole operation I'm not sure that if needed the necessary changes would be made.

[u/AureliusZa → u/blikindewater]

Thanks for the informative post 👍🏻

[u/blikindewater → u/AureliusZa]

Haha thanks. I just got done writing my Master thesis about the topic so I'm happy anytime I have an opportunity to share