Digital Report on Búrfell Wind Farm EIA “ The digital approach is raising the standards for EIA reports the world over, offering a new way of demonstrating important information in a clear, interesting and accessible manner.“ Landsvirkjun is the National Power Company of Iceland, which generates over 75% of the country’s electricity, all from renewable resources. The digital Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of Búrfell Wind Farm is an innovative, non-tech approach of taking the EIA process to the next level. Earlier published EIAs are hard copies and highly technical texts, that almost require expertise knowledge of the matter. The digital approach is raising the standards for EIA reports the world over, offering a new way of presenting important information in a clear, interesting and accessible manner. Our role is to create value, respect natural resources and the environment and to contribute to the society by sharing expertise. As a government owned company we are obliged to inform about all operations, with public acceptance being a vital part of all projects. We believe that a better informed and more involved public will result in higher public acceptance. Although public, exposure of EIA reports visibility has come under criticism. To enhance the report’s visibility and access and to promote interest, the digital approach was chosen as opposed to publishing reports in less than 50 copies that end up being reviewed by few. The digital annual and environmental reports of Landsvirkjun have proven to boost access, interest and discussion on the topic promoting open discussion on the company’s operations. The main objective is to make complex information comprehensible and make a report to encourage the public to come up with an informed opinion, engage in the matter and create a platform for an open and honest discussion on Landsvirkjun’s operations as well as the co-operation of the company with the government, municipalities and the public.
When starting the process we were faced with the obvious challenge that Búrfell Wind farm is the first of its kind in Iceland. Presenting this new energy resource and its environmental impact was a first, which also gave us the opportunity to apply a new approach to the project. To meet the issue regarding clarity of the report we asked our communication agency to largely re-write the report and simplify the technical description of the project. In order to support the material and provide an interesting and clear way of demonstrating the wind farm we worked with a technical and engineering consultancy firm. They provided data visualization, interactive maps and images of the landscape of the area in question, before and after the construction of the wind turbines. The digital EIA report was launched with public meetings presenting this novel approach. The report was made available for computers, tablets and mobiles. Access to the report with iPads was offered both at the meetings and in public spaces in the communities close to the proposed wind farm. As virtually everyone in Iceland has internet access, the digital publishing created a substantially more visible access to the report. A large part of the nation is also active on social media, which created a much broader platform when it came to promoting and advertising the report. The Digital Report of Búrfell Wind Farm EIA has received over 6000 visits (1.8% of the Icelandic population), with average duration of 3:47 minutes. That alone indicates far more interest than with earlier EIA reports. 15 comments and 59 reviews received also helped shape a widely accepted design of the wind farm. The report was presented at the IAIA 2016 (conferences.iaia.org/2016/) with feedback and attention far exceeding expectations. The project has already set a precedent, raising the standards and establishing the global benchmark for EIA’s. Landsvirkjun is underway preparing a digital EIA for two upcoming power proposals following the report’s success.
burfellwindfarm.landsvirkjun.com