Marine Growth Mapping and Monitoring: Feasibility of Predictive Mapping of Marine Growth

The necessary positioning of offshore renewable energy developments in marine environments characterised by strong tidal velocities and/or large waves presents several challenges to developers wishing to operate in these locations. Historically, such environments have also challenged scientists wishing to study the hydrodynamics, geology, and ecology of these sites,
meaning that baseline environmental information is not always readily available to predict the potential impacts of the environment on operational devices, nor the potential impacts of operational devices on the environment.
The Offshore Renewables Joint Industry Programme for Ocean Energy
(ORJIP, http://www.orjip.org.uk) is beginning to address some of these
challenges for marine energy, focussing on those associated with nvironmental consenting.