Project
BeWild: Using novel technologies to monitor biodiversity at offshore wind farms
The BeWild project, short for 'Biodiversity Enhanced Wind Farm development, Integrated monitoring & inspection and Localised Design', is an RVO funded project. The overall aim of the BeWild project is to explore opportunities for biodiversity monitoring in combination with inspection and maintenance monitoring of offshore wind parks through novel technologies and methodologies (i.e. environmental DNA, underwater Remotely Operating Vehicles, Unmanned Surface Vessels). This is in response to increasing demands for biodiversity enhancement and net positive impact surround offshore wind parks.
BeWild overview
This PhD project is part of a wider consortium consisting of CrossWind (owner-operator of the offshore wind farm), Fugro (marine geotechnical engineers), Mecal (marine wind turbine and tower engineers), Seekable (seafloor cable engineers), the Rich North Sea (NGO) and WUR's Marine Animal Ecology Group. Each consortium partner has a different objective within the project.
This PhD project specifically focuses on the social and political implications of using emerging biodiversity monitoring technologies for marine governance.
This PhD project explores
(1) the inscription of biodiversity in the design of an environmental DNA (eDNA) monitoring strategy,
(2) the implications that different institutions have on inscribing biodiversity in the tendering process of offshore wind parks,
(3) the potential to pluralise ways of knowing and monitoring marine biodiversity and
(4) how biodiversity data and knowledge feeds back into governance and decision-making processes for offshore wind energy parks.