SUSTAINOW

SUSTAINable Offshore Wind: smarter tools for sustainable offshore wind expansion

Fokke Baarssen - stock.adobe.com

Offshore wind is a cornerstone of Europe’s clean energy future: Europe aims for 300 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2050. To support the growth of offshore wind in Europe’s seas, more integrated approaches that bring together the information used today are needed. This includes combining information about local and cross-border impacts, environmental and socio-economic factors, and the full life cycle of wind farms, from planning to decommissioning.

The SUSTAINOW project aims to develop open-access innovative solutions that support marine data access, optimal site selection and offshore wind farms design across their life cycle, from strategic planning to operation. The project builds on established decision-support instruments: Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Social Impact Assessment (SIA), social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) and Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIA). Combining them enables “de-risking” strategies that bring environmental, social and economic considerations into planning and implementation at an early stage, supporting regulatory compliance and sustainability.

The project will deliver three novel prototypes:

1. A cross-border marine data space for offshore wind farms, improving the accessibility and interoperability of data across countries and sectors.

2. An evidence-based siting tool that helps identify the most sustainable and technically suitable locations for offshore wind farms.

3. An informed offshore wind farms design tool that supports holistic planning by predicting and managing impacts across the life cycle.

The North Sea is the key pilot area in which the prototypes are developed and demonstrated. Together, these open-access tools give authorities, developers and communities the means to make better-informed decisions and to align offshore wind expansion with sustainability goals. 

SUSTAINOW is carried out by a multidisciplinary consortium of 11 partners from 8 countries, comprising academic institutions, industry leaders and impact assessment specialists. ifeu contributes the assessment and tool design for large-scale impacts using LCA and S-LCA.

Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.