Study of Potential Wind Farm Impacts on the Nantucket Shoals Area

Presentation Description: This study evaluated the potential for the operational phase of the SouthCoast Wind Farm (SCWF) to affect hydrodynamics in the Nantucket Shoals area of southern New England. We evaluated whether turbine rotor wake effect and turbine towers alter water currents and mixing, locally and regionally. There is concern that alteration of the dynamics may affect aggregation and density of zooplankton, particularly copepods, the favored prey of the North Atlantic right whale (NARW).
The density, life stage, and condition of copepods determines the use of the Nantucket Shoals area by right whales. This study evaluated publicly available zooplankton data and adapted models and equations from the literature to predict the effects that SCWF might have. We reviewed the literature and data to date, analyzed the SCW metocean buoy data and evaluated potential impacts. Analytical models were used to determine site and project specific impacts to the sea surface, water column mixing, tidal mixing front, and local and area stratification.
The study shows that adjacent turbines do not create cumulative, region-wide effects. Strong stratification makes it more resilient to tower wake than in the North Sea. Evaluation of wake effects and tidal mixing do not appear to produce enough turbulent energy to collapse the stratification, preserving that important habitat feature for copepods. There is no indication that SCWF will affect the advection of copepods from source populations to Nantucket Shoals based on analyses of potential effects to large-scale regional circulations. Findings suggest that the SCWF will not substantially impact the mechanisms governing the movement and concentration of the prey, nor the foraging behavior of the NARW.