Many onshore windfarms in Scotland are being built on peatlands. As a consequence, the impacts of development activities on the peatland and downstream environments are an important emerging issue. For example, a reduction of the quantity of carbon (C) stored in the peatland and increased phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) concentrations in streams may cause changes in the peatland carbon sink strength and aquatic carbon emissions, and exceedance of EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) P threshold values, respectively. To further assess the impacts from peatland-based windfarm development, the following four research questions were posed: 1. Which specific development activities have the greatest impact on concentrations of C, N and P in streams? How long does it take for C, N and P concentrations to return to baseline conditions? 2. Which specific windfarm development activities caused the greatest aquatic export of carbon and nutrients? 3. What are the controls on concentration and export of aquatic C, N and P in streams draining peatland developments? 4. How effective are site-derived adsorbent materials and an iron ochre at preventing phosphorus from entering upland streams on peatland? Presented in this thesis, are the results from 3-weekly spatial streamwater sampling of 18 sub-catchments (ranging 0.03 - 12 km2) – from October 2011 to March 2013 – which covers the majority of the peatland-based development and one year beyond, of the Whitelee windfarm Phase 2 extension 16 km south of Glasgow, Scotland. Dissolved and particulate organic carbon (DOC/POC), soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) and total oxidised nitrogen (TON) concentrations were measured and exports were calculated from stream gauging. The spatial catchment controls on stream water chemistry were investigated through a multiple linear regression analysis. Fraction of sub-catchment area that was subject to forest felling was found to be significantly positively correlated with concentrations and exports of DOC, POC, SRP and TON; with TON specifically by felling that had occurred more than one year previously. Density of tracks / cable trenches / turbines, and fraction non-forested area in general exerted a negative control on exports. Evidence of SRP attenuation processes in addition to dilution were found in some streams. While neither river sediment nor track or cable trench gravels were very effective at removing SRP, from the results of batch adsorption experiments, a sample of mineral subsoil was. SRP was attenuated in areas where there was a greater proportion of peaty gleys, in the riparian zone along the main stream, and the outcome of the batch adsorption experiments points to attenuation of SRP onto mineral subsoils, where present. Comparing long-term (seven year) time series of the original Whitelee windfarm directly north of the site, with the extension site (this study) it was possible to estimate the time required for recovery to pre-development concentrations. Mean annual [DOC] increased to 31.4 mg l-1 during development of the extension site. While it took five years for the DOC to recover at the original site, in the year following development at the extension site, mean annual [DOC] was still above the baseline. Mean annual [POC] increased to a maximum of 2.6 mg l-1 during development of the extension site, and as with the original site it returned to the baseline the year following development. The mean annual [SRP] increased to a maximum of 50.5 μg l-1 during development, leading to a reduction in water quality from ‘good’ to ‘moderate’ based on comparison with Environmental Quality Standards (EQS). It took four years for the SRP to recover at the original site, and mean annual [SRP] was still above baseline at the extension site in the year following development. The streamwater C, N and P has not been measured as close to, and for such a range of, windfarm development activities. This research has demonstrated links between windfarm development, forest felling in particular, and increased concentrations and exports of DOC, POC, SRP and TON in streams. While the increases were localised within the site itself, investigation of attenuation processes point to peaty gley soils along the main stream, and tracks, cable trenches and turbines – and their associated settling lagoons and silt fences – as potentially mitigating the increased dissolved carbon and nutrients. Outcomes of this research are suggested improvements to the guidance for developing peatlands, especially with regards to monitoring streamwater carbon for a sufficient period post-development, and for the removal of brash on peat soils. Further research could investigate the use of adsorption materials to mitigate phosphorus mobilisation from brash sources to streams, over a time scale of at least two years at the field scale. Laboratory-based environmental fate studies of the increased streamwater carbon could investigate the rates of CO2 efflux with time and with varying concentrations of nutrients, which would help to improve the Scottish Government's carbon calculator estimates of carbon loss from peatland-based windfarm development.

This thesis examines how changes to rural places and landscapes are experienced by residents and incorporated into place attachments and identities over time. It does so through exploring findings from seventy-eight qualitative, ‘emplaced’, oral history interviews in three English villages: Mullion (Cornwall); Askam and Ireleth (Cumbria); and Martham (Norfolk). These villages are located near to at least one existing windfarm, which – as an example of rural change - provides a common focus for the research. The research is informed by a ‘middle-ground’ theoretical approach that considers discursive and experiential aspects of people-environment relationships and pays particular attention to how engagements with the past are enrolled in shaping experiences of landscape, place and change. Attitudes towards rural place-change are identified as being shaped by four complex, relational facets, viz: i) discursive interpretations of rural place, (post)nature and temporality; ii) experiential factors; iii) assessments of utility; and iv) local contexts. The thesis draws these together into a conceptual framework that helps guide analyses of place-change experiences. The framework’s value is demonstrated through applying it to the example of windfarms. The results reveal perceptions to be complex and multifarious but suggest that changes can be incorporated into place attachments and identities so long as highly-valued place assets are not harmed. The research makes a valuable contribution to geography by enhancing understandings about everyday rural lives and experiences; and revealing parallels between academic and lay discourses about landscape, ‘nature’ and place-temporality. It also adds to the considerable literature on perceptions of renewable energy by providing insights into attitudes towards windfarms at the post-construction, rather than proposal, stage.

Le secteur de l’énergie éolienne est en pleine expansion depuis les 10 dernières années. Le nombre et la taille des éoliennes ont été multipliés, ce qui accroît la difficulté et la criticité de la maintenance, et impose aux industriels de passer d’une maintenance corrective et systématique à une maintenance conditionnelle et prédictive. L'objectif de ces travaux est de développer des indicateurs de dégradation, en utilisant les données numériques fournies par le SCADA, disponibles à faible coût mais enregistrées à une faible fréquence d'échantillonnage (10 min) dans un objectif de suivi de production. Une analyse bibliographique approfondie des travaux réalisés sur la surveillance de parcs éoliens à partir de données SCADA montre que deux types d’approches sont généralement proposés. Les méthodes dites mono-turbines où un modèle de comportement d’une turbine est appris sur des périodes de bon fonctionnement, à partir duquel il est possible de créer des résidus mesurant la différence entre la valeur prédite par le modèle et la mesure en ligne, qui servent d’indicateurs de défaut. Les modèles mono-turbines ont la particularité d’utiliser des variables provenant de la même turbine du parc. Les deuxièmes méthodes, dites multi-turbines, sont des méthodes où l'effet parc et la similarité entre machines sont utilisés. Là où les recherches les plus récentes proposent principalement de créer des courbes de performances pour chaque machine du parc pendant une période de temps et de comparer ces courbes entre elles, nous faisons la proposition originale de combiner les deux approches et de comparer les résidus mono-turbines à une référence parc traduisant le comportement majoritaire des turbines du parc. Nous validons de manière extensive ces indicateurs en analysant leurs performances sur une base de données composée d’enregistrements de variables SCADA d’une durée de 4 ans sur un parc de 6 machines. Nous proposons aussi des critères de performances pertinents permettant d’évaluer de manière réaliste les gains et éventuels surcoûts que généreraient ces indicateurs s’ils étaient intégrés dans un outil de maintenance. Ainsi, nous montrons que le taux d’interventions inutiles associées à des fausses alarmes produites par les indicateurs de défaut, et qui provoquent un surcoût très important pour l’entreprise, peut être fortement diminué par la fusion d’indicateurs mono-turbines que nous proposons, tout en conservant une avance à la détection suffisante pour planifier la mise en place d’interventions par les équipes de maintenance. / The wind energy sector has rapidly gown in the last 10 years. The number and the size of wind turbines have multiplied, which increases the difficulty and the criticality of the maintenance, and forces the wind turbine industry to change from a corrective and systematic maintenance to a conditional and predictive maintenance. The objective of this research is to develop failure indicators using numerical SCADA data, available at a low price but with a very low sampling frequency (10 min), in order to make online monitoring.A thorough bibliographical analysis on the surveillance of wind farms using SCADA data shows that two types of approaches are usually suggested. The first approach, called mono-turbine, where a good behaviour model of a turbine is learnt over unfaulty periods. With this approach, it is possible to create residuals measuring the difference between the predicted value by the model and the on-line measure, which serves as failure indicators. The mono-turbine models have the peculiarity in that they use variables coming from the same turbine as the farms. The second approach, called multi-turbine, are methods where the similarity between machines is used. Where the most recent researches mostly suggest creating performance curves for every machine on the farm during a period of time and comparing these curves between each other, we make the original proposal to combine both approaches and compare mono-turbine residuals with a farm reference representing the behaviour of the turbines of the farm.We validate in an extensive way those failure indicators by analysing their performances on a database made up of SCADA variable recordings of a duration of 4 years on a windfarm of 6 machines. We also propose relevant performance criteria allowing an estimation in a realistic way of the gains and possible additional costs which would generate these indicators if they were integrated into a tool of maintenance. Therefore, we show that the rate of useless interventions associated with false alarms produced by the failure indicators, which cause a heavy additional cost for the company, can be strongly decreased by the mono-turbines indicators merging that we propose, while preserving a sufficient detection time for the maintenance teams to plan interventions.

La compensation écologique, envisagée dans le respect de la séquence éviter-réduire-compenser les impacts, cherche à apporter des réponses à la crise actuelle d’érosion de la biodiversité. L’objectif de la thèse est de comprendre quels sont les enjeux organisationnels et institutionnels de la mise en œuvre du principe de compensation écologique pour les impacts sur les écosystèmes aquatiques marins et continentaux en Europe et aux Etats-Unis. La thèse mobilise le cadre théorique de l’économie néo-institutionnelle. Les organisations de type hiérarchique (compensation au cas par cas) ont pour principales limites d’avoir une efficacité écologique discutable et de ne pas permettre le suivi et le contrôle des mesures compensatoires ce qui conduit souvent à ce que la compensation ne soit pas ou peu mise en œuvre. Aux Etats-Unis, les banques de compensation consistent en une réponse anticipée et mutualisée aux dommages à l’environnement. Il s’agit d’une forme organisationnelle alternative hybride fortement régulée à mi-chemin entre la hiérarchie et le marché. Cependant, les acteurs ont des stratégies collectives et individuelles qui engendrent des négociations ayant des conséquences sur les enjeux de développement économique et de maintien des objectifs de conservation de la biodiversité. Le système des banques de compensation crée un double phénomène de redistribution des coûts de transaction et de diminution de ceux-ci mais il semble que l’évolution de l’ensemble du cadre d’application de la compensation écologique américain permet aujourd’hui une complémentarité institutionnelle entre ces deux formes organisationnelles plutôt qu’une disparition des formes hiérarchiques. / Biodiversity offset, as the last step of the mitigation hierarchy (avoid/reduce/offset), aims to address the current biodiversity loss crisis. The main goal of this PhD, which relies on the new institutional economics approach as a theoretical framework, is to understand the organizational and institutional issues of implementing biodiversity offsets policies for impacts on continental and offshore wetlands in Europe and the United-States. Hierarchical organizations (i.e. permittee responsible mitigation) often lead to little to no implementation of biodiversity offsets because the ecological effectiveness of case-by-case compensatory measures is unproven and the monitoring and control of numerous measures are difficult. In the United-States, the mitigation banking system aims to compensate for multiple small impacts on wetlands by carrying out restoration projects on fewer but larger wetland areas in order to reach the goal of no net loss of biodiversity. This hybrid organizational form is highly regulated and therefore stands halfway between hierarchical and market organizations. However, actors have individual and collective strategies that generate negotiations with consequences on economic development and biodiversity conservation stakes. The mitigation banking system leads to a decrease of transaction costs and a change of the actors bearing them. It seems that the evolution of the whole framework of biodiversity offsets policy implementation in the United-States leans toward an institutional complementarity between these two organizational forms rather than a disappearance of hierarchical organizations.