SeaGrown’s Post

Exciting news from SeaGrown and RWE! Together, they’re pioneering a seaweed cultivation system within offshore wind farms to restore marine ecosystems, enhance biodiversity, and capture carbon! This innovative partnership shows the incredible potential of seaweed to create thriving oceans and a healthier planet. Collaboration like this is exactly what we need to tackle climate challenges🌍 #seaweedfarming #biodiversity #sustainability #climateaction

Renewable energy projects within the context of biodiversity conservation! Here are some of our efforts in the field of renewable energy since 2023 till last week. The journey started with safeguarding the Sharm El-Sheikh-Tour powerline, through the largest national survey on transmission powerlines in Egypt which resulted in securing 20 km with diverters to mark a safer migration to birds. Renewable energy projects not only harm species passing through our country as they complete their life cycle, but also affect our habitats and our unique and local biodiversity, which is difficult to offset. NCE's work in the energy sector expanded to embrace the Spiny-tailed lizard, a species threatened with extinction, end of last year. After more than two years of local and international conservation, we made significant progress in the Spiny-tailed lizard's conservation project. NCE took a leading role in conservation efforts and participated in the COP for Migratory Species in February in Uzbekistan, continuing its efforts by participating in the stakeholder platform for energy under the same agreement on migratory species, which took place in April in Madrid, Spain. The aim was to reconcile developments in renewable energy with the conservation of migratory species. In April, we were also pleased to invite our partners from various organizations to the Galala Observatory, the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA), the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC), Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE), and the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA). In May, NCE launched an awareness campaign about the Avistep tool, a tool for measuring bird sensitivity to various infrastructure projects, which was discussed as one of the outcomes of the COP for Migratory Species attended by NCE in Uzbekistan. In the same month, NCE translocated the Egyptian spiny-tailed lizard to its natural habitat, in collaboration with AMUNET Wind Power, RCREEE, and SafeSoar. In June, we continued our campaign for the Avistep tool with an educational workshop announcing the official launch of the tool in Egypt, attended by Tris Allinson, Senior Conservation Scientist from BirdLife International, and other significant stakeholders. Both the tool and the workshop provided significant support to private and governmental sectors to help them make decisions that ensure the sustainability of our resources and conserve biodiversity in line with international and financial commitments. Finally, early August, NCE celebrated its partnership as a civil society with the private sector, represented by AMUNET for  Wind Energy and AMEA Power, to launch a highly important project aimed at protecting thousands of migratory birds in Egypt from the danger of collision with transmission powerlines in the Gulf of Suez, an official signing ceremony took place and was covered by major press outlets in Egypt. Egyptian Ministry of Environment

Just read a very interesting article on "A modeling framework for biodiversity assessment in renewable energy development: A case study on European bats and wind turbines" The article addresses a critical challenge in renewable energy development in how to expand wind power while protecting biodiversity, particularly bats. The authors propose a new data-driven framework to improve ecological impact assessments (EIAs), which could have significant implications for consulting work. The authors identify what they call a "green-green dilemma" - the conflict between renewable energy development (needed for climate action) and biodiversity protection. In France, their case study showed that over 90% of approved wind turbines were placed in areas of high bat activity, suggesting current EIA processes aren't effectively identifying sensitive wildlife areas. The authors introduce a modelling framework that leverages citizen science data to create standardized biodiversity benchmarks. This approach includes five main steps: 1.     Data Sources and Variables: The framework starts by identifying large-scale citizen science programs and determining relevant environmental and bioclimatic predictors that influence species distribution. 2.     Species Abundance Modelling: It uses the citizen science data to model species abundance in relation to these predictors. 3.     Benchmark Creation: The framework creates a standardized benchmark by predicting species abundance at random points across the study area. 4.     Site-Specific Assessment: It then compares predicted species abundance at proposed/existing wind farm sites against these benchmarks. 5.     Risk Assessment: Finally, it identifies sites of biodiversity significance that might be threatened by proposed or existing projects. Looking at potential implications for ecological consultants the framework could be successfully implemented at the assessment phase and used to conduct more objective preliminary site assessments before field surveys begin. This may provide a standardised way to compare different potential development sites and help justify survey effort and focus field work on the most critical areas. It may also strengthen the scientific basis of impact predictions in EIA reports. At the monitoring stage the framework offers a standardised way to evaluate actual impacts against predictions. It may also help design more effective monitoring programs by identifying key species and areas of concern and possibly provide a way to assess cumulative impacts across multiple projects. What do others think? 🤔 Link to article here: https://lnkd.in/e46JB2qX NOTE: this post was co-created between AI and a human!

One of the great criticisms of renewable projects is the impact on biodiversity. This study aims to determine how they can benefit rather than harm nature.

...Microsoft has been investing in different carbon capture technologies in recent years as part of its efforts to offset the emissions of its data centers. This week it also revealed it was purchasing 1.6 million tons of reforestation carbon credits from a project in Panama. The ARC Restaura Azuero Project (ARC) in the Azuero Peninsula of Panama will restore a “unique tropical forest”, planting over six million trees from over 75 native species in an area degraded by decades of cattle ranching. It is expected to issue 3.24 million tons of carbon removal credits over the next 30 years, and Microsoft has purchased 1.6 million of these through a credit streaming agreement, the company’s first, and an offtake agreement. A streaming agreement sees an upfront deposit paid, with more payments throughout the life of the contract. Microsoft’s funding will enable Ponterra, the organization planting the forest, to start work at the 10,000-hectare site. Two other buyers, Rubicon Carbon and Carbon Streaming, are also purchasing credits. “Ponterra’s mission to restore biodiversity and uplift local communities by designing and operating high-integrity nature projects comes to life today,” said Ponterra CEO Celia Francis. “We are thrilled to be working with some of the most respected buyers of nature-based carbon credits in the market to reach the scale needed to meaningfully impact the twin biodiversity and climate crises,” It is the third reforestation deal Microsoft has penned in the last six months. In December it revealed it was purchasing 1.5 million tons of carbon credits from another company, Mombak, as part of reforestation work in the Amazon rainforest. Mombak said at the time that Microsoft’s backing would help it reestablish 25 forests in deforested areas of the Brazilian Amazon biome, planting 30 million trees and returning 100 million different species to the area, many of which are threatened with extinction. Microsoft is also working with Green on another forestry project in Brazil. The deal will fund the restoration of more than 16,000 hectares of degraded pastureland across Brazil (over half of which has already been acquired with restoration activities underway), including in the States of Maranhão and Bahia, encompassing the planting of at least 10.7 million native seedlings.

Green at What Cost? The Renewable Energy vs. Biodiversity Dilemma Meridian Energy seeks a resource consent to build solar farm at Ruakākā, Northland on land that is dominated by an intricate mosaic of rare dune slack wetlands. The resource consent is currently notified and open for submissions. The potential ecological effects of the proposal are likely to be more than minor and potentially significant resulting in the permanent loss of the impacted wetlands, as they are proposed to be levelled to facilitate the development. The impacted wetlands were shown to form habitat for ‘Nationally Critical’ bittern, amongst other regionally and nationally threatened flora and fauna. Having read through the application package, there appears to be significant disagreement between Meridian’s Ecologists and the Council’s Consulting Ecologist, which relate to the functional need for the solar farm to be constructed within wetlands (noting that there are alternative sites where this activity could take place without requiring wetland destruction or requiring much less of it), the ‘true’ wetland extent on site, the potential ecological effects of the proposal as well as the proposed off-set mitigation package. Of note, one of the mitigation proposals is a like-for-like wetland area off-set. While this is a noble idea, there's a couple of issues with this. Firstly, the true wetland extent on site is not agreed upon by the two Ecologists. Secondly, it is proposed that the wetland off-set area would only be constructed after the existing wetlands have been destroyed. To put it into context, imagine this was your home, which was never fully assessed and appropriately valued. You are promised a replacement home in a different area, where you had never had any aspirations to live in, the environment isn’t really suitable to build a replacement house on, and there's also a catch: your new home will also likely be smaller, and only be built after your current one is destroyed. Furthermore, the new neighbourhood is less safe for your family to move in and out, starkly contrasting the environment of your original home. This scenario mirrors the loss of a wetland for a bittern and the insufficient offset provided in the name of development. While I more than support the move towards more renewable energy generation, it needs to be constructed in appropriate locations without the need to sacrifice existing biodiversity values. Over 90% of our wetlands nationally have been lost to farming and development, do we really need to destroy the other 10%? There is plentiful land in the wider area where this type of proposal could take place with a much lower ecological impact, however there seems to be a severe lack of interest to explore more suitable alternative locations. https://lnkd.in/gwh7yAP4 Submissions close Tuesday, April 23rd, 2024.

One of the great criticisms of renewable projects is the impact on biodiversity. This study aims to determine how they can benefit rather than harm nature.

🌞🌱 Unlocking Nature's Potential with Solar Farms! A recent survey, supported by Solar Energy UK, reveals that solar farms are not just about generating clean energy—they're also thriving hubs for biodiversity! 🌿🐝 The study, conducted in collaboration with ecological consultancies Clarkson & Woods and Wychwood Biodiversity, sheds light on the remarkable potential of solar farms to serve as "safe havens for biodiversity" and contribute significantly to nature restoration efforts. Discover how solar farms are fostering ecological gains and paving the way for a greener, more sustainable future! 🌍💡 Dive into the full article through the link below and join us in celebrating the remarkable synergy between renewable energy and biodiversity! https://lnkd.in/dDn4pq5u #ConnectingGreenTalent #Renewables #CleanEnergy #Sustainability

🌞🌱 Unlocking Nature's Potential with Solar Farms! A recent survey, supported by Solar Energy UK, reveals that solar farms are not just about generating clean energy—they're also thriving hubs for biodiversity! 🌿🐝 The study, conducted in collaboration with ecological consultancies Clarkson & Woods and Wychwood Biodiversity, sheds light on the remarkable potential of solar farms to serve as "safe havens for biodiversity" and contribute significantly to nature restoration efforts. Discover how solar farms are fostering ecological gains and paving the way for a greener, more sustainable future! 🌍💡 Dive into the full article through the link below and join us in celebrating the remarkable synergy between renewable energy and biodiversity! https://lnkd.in/dXrcvxP4 #Renewables #CleanEnergy #Sustainability

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐚𝐭 𝐀𝐙𝐔𝐑𝐀 𝐎𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐧 T𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 p𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐑𝐃𝐂-𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 ‘𝐀𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐆𝐫𝐢𝐝’ 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐯𝐢𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫. As the key ocean energy partner, AZURA Ocean Technology partnered with Australian Ocean Energy Group, Deloitte Climate & Sustainability, Emissions Solutions, Syncline Energy Pty Ltd, and aquaculture industry partner Ocean Road Abalone | Southern Ocean Mariculture to undertake a study that contributed to the key goals of FRDC - Fisheries Research and Development Corporation's 2020-2025 Research, Development & Extension Plans to investigate “ the development of scalable alternative energy solutions for aquaculture” Based on the findings of the feasibility study, Ocean Road Abalone | Southern Ocean Mariculture has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Azura as its technology supplier to implement the first scenario, with two 100kW wave units, which could be scaled up at a later date. It’s a plan that meets the company’s commitment to reduce its emissions as quickly as it can, securing sources of perpetual, reliable, affordable, secure and low-risk clean energy.  For a copy of the full report or to find out more contact Michael Byrne mbyrne@azuraoceantech.com Director AZURA Ocean Technology #AquaGrid #Oceanenergy #SustainableAquaculture #Decarbonisation #InnovationAquaculture #EnergyTransition #EmmissionReduction #BlueEconomy #WaveEnergy #PositiveImpact https://lnkd.in/guEFFqTN