LiftWEC Deliverable D9.1: Identification of potential technology stressors and environmental receptors of the LiftWEC technology

LiftWEC is a collaborative research project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No 851885. The LiftWEC project aims at identifying promising configurations of a Wave Energy Converter operating through the use of one or more rotating hydrofoils that generate lift as the primary interaction with the incident waves. Under the project Work Package 9 (WP9) - Environmental Impact Assessment, four Tasks will be carried out to ensure the LiftWEC device development is made under the most suitable environmentally friendly criteria from an early design phase. The present document constitutes the first Deliverable of WP9: D9.1 – Identification of potential technology stressors and environmental receptors of the LiftWEC technology. This Deliverable is divided into five Sections: Section 1 describes the current configurations (preliminary configurations) defined for the LiftWEC installation. These configurations were generated during the LiftWEC Workshop organized in 2020 by the LiftWEC project Consortium and will form the basis for further research conducted throughout the project; Section 2 provides an overview of the Environmental Impact Assessment process for the Marine Renewable Energy sector, with focus on Ocean Energy projects; Section 3 presents the key stressors associated with MRE projects and its effects on environmental and socioeconomic receptors; Section 4 identifies the stressors and receptors that might be associated with the LiftWEC installation and suggests possible mitigation measures to the effects; Section 5 provides final remarks about the interaction between the MRE sector and environmental and socioeconomic receptors, including the role of LiftWEC.This work was produced as part of the LiftWEC Project. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 851885. This output reflects the views only of the author(s), and the European Union cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein