1. Introduction

1.1. Purpose and scope

  1. This outline Environmental Management Plan (EMP) has been prepared by RPS and Ossian Offshore Wind Farm Limited (Ossian OWFL), a joint venture partnership between SSE Renewables (SSER) Limited, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and Marubeni Corporation (hereafter referred to as ‘the Applicant’, to support the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Report for the Ossian Array (hereafter referred to as ‘the Array’).
  2. This EMP covers the activities included in the Array EIA Report as defined in volume 1, chapter 1.
  3. The purpose of this outline EMP is to serve as a consolidated document which includes the various environmental commitments during the construction and operation and maintenance phases of the Array, ensuring the efficient management and dissemination of these commitments. This outline EMP will be updated prior to construction, between construction and operation and maintenance and then again prior to the decommissioning phase to encompass the environmental commitments associated with each phase.
  4. This outline EMP also provides a foundation for the management of the potential environmental impacts associated with the Array, providing practical guidance to those involved in the construction and operation and maintenance phases of the Array.
  5. Once finalised, all the Applicant’s personnel and Contractors involved in the Array will be expected to comply with the EMP.
  6. This outline EMP has been prepared in accordance with the following industry guidance:
  • Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) Guidance on Environmental Management Plans (IEMA, 2008).

1.2. Aims and Objectives

  1. The aim of the EMP is to provide a tool to ensure all the mitigation measures and monitoring commitments made in the Array EIA Report are implemented.
  2. The main objectives of this document are therefore to:
  • provide information on the Array, detailing the appropriate measures for the avoidance, minimisation and control of any environmental impacts associated with the Array identified as part of the Array EIA; and
  • provide a framework for monitoring the environment.
  1. The EMP will be finalised and adopted prior to the construction phase of the Array and will also be reviewed and updated prior to being adopted for the operation and maintenance phase and similarly for the decommissioning phase.
  2. During these updates, further environmental requirements and management measures to be applied during these phases will be incorporated.
  3. The EMP is a key construction document and will ensure all monitoring and mitigation commitments included as part of the Array EIA Report, including those that are considered necessary to reduce potential impacts, are implemented. This EMP does not apply to the Proposed onshore infrastructure for Ossian landward of Mean High Water Springs (MHWS) or to the Proposed offshore export cable corridor(s). Separate EMPs will be developed for these elements of Ossian.

1.3. Document Structure

  1. This EMP is divided into three parts:
  • Part I – Management, implementation, and communication. This section provides information on the management and implementation of the EMP, including roles and responsibilities, and lines of communication.
  • Part II – Environmental impacts and control measures. This section includes a register of potential environmental impacts identified within the Array EIA Report with associated control measures.
  • Part III – Annexes included as part of the EMP including sub-plans to the EMP and reporting proformas. These sub-plans include:

–           annex A – Marine Pollution Contingency Plan (MPCP); and

–           annex B – Invasive Non-Native Species Management Plan (INNSMP)

1.4. Other Relevant Documents

  1. Once finalised, this EMP will form part of a suite of consent plans that will be required as a condition of the Section 36 Consent and associated Marine Licences for the Array. At this stage the list of final consent plans that will be required is not known. However, where commitments to specific consent plans have been identified as designed in mitigation within the Technical Assessments, outline versions of these plans have been provided as appendices to the Array EIA Report. These outline consent plans include:
  • Marine Mammal Mitigation Plan (MMMP) (volume 4, appendix 22);
  • Fisheries Management and Mitigation Strategy (FMMS) (volume 4, appendix 23);
  • Navigational Safety and Vessel Management Plan (NSVMP) (volume 4, appendix 24);
  • Scour Protection Management Plan (SPMP) (volume 4, appendix 25);
  • Lighting and Marking Plan (LMP) (volume 4, appendix 26);
  • Aids to Navigation Management Plan (ANMP) (volume 4, appendix 26, annex A); and
  • Written Scheme of Archaeological Investigation (WSI) and Protocol for Archaeological Discoveries (PAD) (volume 3, appendix 19.2).
  1. In addition to the consent plans listed above, the Applicant will also be required to prepare a Project Environmental Monitoring Programme (PEMP). The PEMP will set out the Applicant’s commitments to monitoring the potential effects of the Array key receptors and provide detail on how that monitoring will be delivered across all stages of the Array (pre-construction, construction, post-construction and future decommissioning). This plan will be developed in consultation with Marine Directorate – Licensing Operations Team (MD-LOT) and other key stakeholders and therefore has not been included as an outline plan at this stage.
  2. The Applicant will also be required to submit a Decommissioning Programme (DP2) in accordance with section 105(2) of the Energy Act 2004 Decommissioning of Offshore Installations and Decommissioning of Offshore Renewable Energy Installations in Scottish waters or in the Scottish part of the Renewable Energy Zone under The Energy Act 2004 (Scottish Government, 2022). Other consent plans likely to be required include Cable Plan(s) for inter-array, interconnector and Proposed offshore export cables corridor(s), Piling Strategy (PS), Construction Method Statement (CMS), Construction Programme (CP), Development Specification and Layout Plan (DSLP) and Design Statement. The majority of these plans require further detailed design work to be completed prior to preparation.
  3. This EMP, sub-plans and all other required consent plans will be developed once further detailed design work has been completed for the Array and post-consent requirements and consent conditions are agreed. The consent plans will be prepared in consultation with key stakeholders for submission to, and approval by, MD-LOT prior to the commencement of construction.
  4. The outline consent plans included in the Array EIA Report will be reviewed and updated as necessary throughout the development of the Array, to a schedule agreed with MD-LOT. These documents will always reflect the commitments made in the Array EIA Report and any associated conditions of consent or requirements agreed with the relevant authorities.

1.5. Background and Consents

1.5.1. Description of the Array

  1. The Array is a floating, offshore wind farm located off the east coast of Scotland, approximately 80 km south-east of Aberdeen from the nearest point.
  2. The Array covers an area of approximately 859 km2. It comprises up to 265 floating wind turbines and up to 15 Offshore Substation Platforms (OSPs). Subsea inter-array cables will connect the wind turbines to each other and to the OSPs, while interconnector cables will connect the OSPs to each other.

 

Figure 1.1:
Location of the Array

Figure 1.1: Location of the Array

 

1.5.2. Consents

  1. Table 1.1   Open ▸ lists the consents obtained for the Array. The information in this table will be populated once consents are received.

 

Table 1.1:
Array Consents

Table 1.1: Array Consents

 

  1. The Applicant is submitting this EMP as part of the Array EIA report submission for consent and to seek approval for the commitments within this EMP prior to the commencement of construction activities. As noted in section 1.2, this EMP is a live document and will be further developed in accordance with the requirements of the relevant consent conditions and in consultation with relevant stakeholders.