Within the Environmental Statement (ES) for the development of the Thanet OWF, Thanet Offshore Wind Limited
committed to undertaking three post-construction monitoring surveys over a ten-year period to help ascertain
impacts of the wind farm during the construction and operational phases, or longer-term changes from those
recorded pre-construction. In addition, post-construction surveys would help to provide further information where
uncertainty remained and test predictions made in the ES.
A FEPA Licence was granted for the construction and operation of the project in 2006 and was subsequently
converted to a Marine Licence in 2013 (L/2013/00011/14), for which the accompanying Annex 1 described the
requirements for post-construction benthic surveys as required under Marine Licence conditions 3.1.8 and 3.1.9.
In line with Licence requirements, a Post-Construction Environmental Monitoring Plan (PCEMP) was produced
(Thanet Offshore Wind Farm Limited, 2010) and agreed with the MMO which set out the survey programme and
objectives for all post construction monitoring. The survey programme confirmed that changes would be monitored
over a ten-year period, with surveys being undertaken in years one, five and ten following the completion of
construction (2012, 2017 and 2022 respectively).
The second post-construction monitoring survey (originally due in 2017) was completed in 2019, and the Licencing
Authority has indicated that in order for Thanet Offshore Wind Limited to remain compliant with consent conditions,
the third post-construction monitoring survey was then completed in in 2022.
The objective of this third post construction survey is the assessment of any long-term changes in the benthic ecology
resulting from the construction and subsequent operation of the OWF.
This report details the findings of the third and final post-construction monitoring survey, completed in September
2022 and a comparison of results across pre-construction monitoring and all post-construction monitoring years.
