One of the main environmental impacts of tidal energy is due to the operations related to the installation, the maintenance throughout the life cycle of the turbine and, finally, during dismantling. These operations will involve associated ships and human intervention in the turbine and may also generate some waste. These operations are considered and included in a comparative study to assess the improvement achieved through the increased level of reliability and the consequent reduction in maintenance visits.
This deliverable establishes a baseline for assessing the reduction in environmental impact resulting from increased reliability, over the entire life cycle of the turbine. This document includes an assessment of the environmental impact linked to the reduction in the number of parts replaced, the reduction in the size of vessels required, the number of vessel operations and human interventions. Taking as an example the data relating to the D10 tidal turbine of Sabella, a final comparative table concludes that the reduction of the environmental impact (measured in Carbon Footprint) is more than 50% over the life of the turbine and after its dismantling, after applying the studies carried out in the different WPs of the RealTide project.

(Paper submitted but not yet approved by PO)