POWER-US Workshop Final Report on Offshore Wind Energy and Passive Acoustic Monitoring: Establishing Standards for Operational Real-time Systems

Abstract

Real-time autonomous Passive Acoustic Monitoring systems (real-time PAMS) have the ability to detect marine mammal species, including the North Atlantic Right Whale, and provide notification of their presence. This workshop, held at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) on November 21st, 2019, sought to develop an initial framework for creating equipment and performance standards that could be used to benchmark all real-time PAMS as well as data standards that ensure system interoperability. Forty attendees were present, spanning industry, regulatory, scientific, and conservation stakeholder groups. Through presentations and breakout sessions, the group identified and discussed the potential abilities of real-time PAMS to improve situational awareness during wind energy development activities, the types of implementations that are possible in the coming years, and the roadblocks preventing near-term, widespread use of this technology as a risk mitigation solution. Participants agreed that real-time autonomous PAMS hold tremendous promise for reducing the potential risk associated with development activities while at the same time allowing more flexibility to developers. Successful implementation of real-time PAMS for offshore wind energy use was seen as possible now based on existing technology. Workshop attendees identified a number next steps that would further the effectiveness of real-time PAMS within the offshore wind energy industry. However, the lack of a regulatory process for defining the sensing requirements for a particular implementation, as well as the dynamic operational framework within which real-time PAMS would be used were seen as the biggest challenges to effective near-term use.