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Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics

Consortium receives NWA funding for research into the ecological impacts of offshore wind farms

22 May 2026

Offshore wind farms play a key role in making the Netherlands’ energy supply more sustainable. However, the presence of these farms can affect the natural environment around them, both above and below the water. This consortium will receive over 5 million euros in funding from the Dutch Research Agenda to investigate the ecological impacts of offshore wind farms.

More specifically, the approved project, North Sea POWER, will examine issues such as the potential deterrent effect of the wind farms on birds and bats, and the water and biomass flows around the turbines. The research will last six years. This funding stems from the NWA research programme ‘Knowledge development on the ecological effects of offshore wind farms’, developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy.

The consortium was formed during a so-called Sandpit procedure. In this process, interested parties meet over several days to draft a research proposal. This intensive process facilitated the formation of an inter- and transdisciplinary consortium 

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