@inproceedings{01H3EVJ4W81YC9ESDF5ZZ6FXCK,
  abstract     = {{Offshore wind energy is widely regarded as one of the most credible sources for increasing renewable energy production. Currently, the Belgian offshore wind farms (OWFs) accommodate a total capacity of 2.26 GW and the installation of another 3.5 GW is proposed in the latest marine spatial plan. Although physical and biological impact of OWFs are frequently studied and become more and more understood, a comprehensive tool to evaluate changes in ecosystem services is lacking. Yet, all stakeholders could benefit from such a tool, as it enables intuitive evaluation of both environmental burdens and opportunities by monetizing the ecosystem services into “ecoservice capital”. To this end, we propose a novel approach to assess the risks of OWFs on marine ecosystems. A set of ecosystem services were selected in collaboration with multiple key stakeholders. Ecosystem services were quantified using science-based models equations and driving parameters were selected. Environmental risk assessment (ERA) procedures were used to quantify the impact of OWFs on the ecosystem parameters, and subsequently coupled to the ecosystem services. This resulted in an evaluation of the impact and risk of changing ecoservice capital. As a first case study, waste remediation (as sedimentary nitrate reduction) was selected as ecosystem service. Total organic matter (TOM) and fine sediment fraction quantities were found to be good proxies within this model. As the Belgian part of the North Sea is one of the best studied and monitored marine areas in the world and OWFs are intensively monitored within this area, extensive data regarding these parameters is available and was used to construct predictive ERA models. Confirming previous results, no significant change in TOM was observed. However, the fine sediment fraction adjacent to turbines showed an increase of almost 5%. Based on these findings the impact is assumed to induce only low risk towards changing waste remediation potential of the environment, as the impacted area represents only 1.2% of the entire OWF area. This proof of principal study demonstrated the use of ecosystem service evaluations in past and present ecological risk assessment procedures. However, a more complete view and evaluation using other ecosystem services needs to be conducted to provide a more holistic view of sustainable design and developments of future offshore advancements.}},
  articleno    = {{P-Tu455}},
  author       = {{Lorré, Dries and Vandamme, Sara and Braeckman, Ulrike and Van der Biest, Katrien and Janssen, Colin and Asselman, Jana}},
  booktitle    = {{SETAC Europe, 33rd Annual Meeting, Abstracts}},
  issn         = {{2309-8031}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  location     = {{Dublin, Ireland & online}},
  pages        = {{P-Tu455:859--P-Tu455:860}},
  title        = {{Assessing risk of offshore windfarms towards ecosystem services}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}