This report presents the results of the bird monitoring programme that has been
undertaken between October 2017 and March 2018, and summarises the overall results
from that programme. It forms the third and final year of the post-construction phase
monitoring of the Kentish Flats Extension Offshore Wind Farm (KFE). As well as reporting
the surveys carried out in the final field survey winter, this report also includes analysis of
all of the post-construction data, comparing key species distribution and abundance with
the pre-construction baseline, in order to determine the effects of the wind farm on the
local bird populations.
The main aim of this phase of the work was to determine the distribution and abundance of
seabirds using the KFE site and its surrounds after construction of the wind farm, and
compare this with the pre-construction baseline. Standard survey methodologies have been
used, following Camphuysen et al. (2004) and have remained consistent through all the
surveys.
The KFE development comprises 15 x 3.3MW wind turbines. It is located in the Outer
Thames Estuary, approximately 7 kilometres off the north Kent coast. KFE extends over an
area of 7.8km2
The original Kentish Flats Offshore Wind Farm (KF) has been operational
since 2005 and consists of 30 x 3MW wind turbines.
Offshore construction of the KFE commenced in April 2015 with the installation of turbine
foundations. Piling of the turbine foundations was completed on 23 May 2015. Turbine
installation was completed on 10 August 2015, and all 15 turbines were generating power
to the National Grid from 12 September 2015.
Two export cables have been installed alongside the existing cables and come ashore near
to Hampton Pier, Herne Bay. The onshore cable route follows the existing Kentish Flats
cable route to the Red House Farm substation on Thornden Wood Road. The export cable is
18km, with 12km of inter-array cables connecting the turbines into strings. The cables were
installed using a water jetting method with a final burial depth in the range of 0.5 to 2m
below the seabed.
