Windenergie op zee: een groene toekomst met een grijs randje?

Jens
Broeckx

© Foto: Hans Hillewaert / CC BY-SA 4.0

Eerder dit jaar kondigden negen Europese landen, waaronder België, trots een mega-investering van 1.000 miljard euro in windenergie op de Noordzee aan. Het doel is om tegen 2050 acht keer zoveel windenergie op te wekken als nu.

Het project wordt geprezen als politiek, economisch en ecologisch voordelig. Meer onafhankelijkheid van landen als Rusland, Saoedi-Arabië en de Verenigde Staten is een belangrijke aanleiding, net als de beloofde 91.000 extra jobs in de windenergiesector. Bovendien ligt de CO2-uitstoot veel lager dan die van fossiele energie. Eén factor blijft onderbelicht: de impact op lokale ecosystemen.

Meer windenergie op zee betekent meer infrastructuur in een ruwe omgeving. Zout zeewater veroorzaakt corrosie, die de levensduur van windturbines sterk verkort. Daar bestaat een oplossing voor: opofferingsanodes. Die lossen langzaam op, zodat de turbine zelf gespaard blijft. Bij dat proces komen verschillende metalen vrij in het mariene milieu. Van sommige, zoals zink en aluminium, is de impact redelijk goed in te schatten, want zij zijn al uitgebreid onderzocht. Over andere metalen was tot voor kort nauwelijks iets bekend.

Dat geldt voor indium en gallium. Deze metalen worden steeds belangrijker voor moderne technologieën en komen ook voor in de anodes, maar over hun effecten op het mariene milieu en de organismen die daar leven was bijna niets geweten. De masterthesis van Jens Broeckx (onderzoeksgroep ECOSPHERE, Universiteit Antwerpen) brengt daar verandering in. Twee diersoorten werden blootgesteld aan verschillende concentraties van beide metalen: het wadkreeftje, een kleine kreeftachtige die in de zeebodem leeft, en de zebravis, een veelgebruikt modelorganisme dat in de waterkolom voorkomt. Zo konden effecten in zowel de bodem als het water onder de loep worden genomen.

Geruststellend, of toch niet?© Foto: Jens Broeckx

Op het eerste gezicht zijn de resultaten geruststellend. Zowel de wadkreeftjes als de zebravissen stierven niet, en ontwikkelingsstoornissen gelinkt aan de metalen werden niet vastgesteld. Dit gold zelfs voor concentraties die vele malen hoger liggen dan wat men vandaag in de Noordzee meet.

Toch zijn de metalen niet helemaal onschuldig. Naarmate de concentraties stegen, stapelden ze zich op in de dieren. De chronische effecten hiervan worden pas na langere tijd zichtbaar. Metalen die zich ophopen in organismen worden bovendien via de voedselketen doorgegeven aan andere dieren, en kunnen uiteindelijk op ons bord belanden.

Geen sterfte betekent dus niet dat de metalen geen effect hebben. Zo bond indium zich bijna volledig aan het sediment waarin de wadkreeftjes leefden. In het water was er nauwelijks indium te detecteren, maar de dieren namen het wel op via het sediment.

Dat resultaat legt een belangrijke blinde vlek in de milieumonitoring bloot. Vaak worden enkel de metaalconcentraties in de waterkolom gemeten, waardoor ten onrechte kan worden besloten dat er niets aan de hand is. Ondertussen nemen de concentraties in het sediment en in de dieren gestaag toe. Wat dat op langere termijn betekent, is nog niet onderzocht.

Niet elk metaal gedraagt zich hetzelfde

Opvallend is ook het grote verschil tussen indium en gallium. Indium was bijna afwezig in de waterkolom, gallium daarentegen kwam er volop voor. Die chemische verschillen bepaalden wat de dieren opnamen: de zebravissen namen amper indium op, simpelweg omdat het in hun leefomgeving nauwelijks voorkwam, maar wel veel gallium, aangezien dat voor hen beschikbaar was.

Bij de zebravissen werd een onverwacht verband gevonden: hoe meer indium in de omgeving, hoe minder gallium ze opnamen. Dat wijst wellicht op concurrentie via een nog onbekend mechanisme, mogelijk gelinkt aan het transport van ijzer in het lichaam. Een precieze verklaring vraagt verder onderzoek.

Een extra hindernis voor de energietransitie

De resultaten van deze studie betekenen echter niet dat windenergie op zee plots een kritieke bedreiging vormt voor het mariene milieu. De geteste concentraties veroorzaakten geen acute effecten bij de wadkreeftjes en zebravissen. Wat de studie wel aantoont, is hoe weinig we weten over metalen die vrijkomen door energie-infrastructuur op zee. De effecten zijn vandaag misschien beperkt, maar door de aangekondigde investering wordt onderzoek hiernaar dringender.

Hoe zorgen we ervoor dat de energietransitie niet alleen klimaatvriendelijk is, maar ook ecologisch verantwoord?

Broeckx pleit voor meer aandacht voor sediment in de milieumonitoring rond windmolenparken. Dieren die op of in de zeebodem leven, kunnen aan metalen worden blootgesteld zonder dat waterstalen dit aangeven.

Deze studie is pas het begin. Langere blootstellingsperiodes, meer organismen, andere metalen en preciezere metingen zijn nodig om uit te maken hoe schadelijk de opgehoopte metalen op termijn zijn.

Achter dit onderzoek schuilt een bredere vraag: hoe zorgen we ervoor dat de energietransitie niet alleen klimaatvriendelijk is, maar ook ecologisch verantwoord? De Europese leiders die de deal ondertekenden, moeten die vraag meenemen in de uitwerking van hun plan voor de toekomst van de Noordzee.

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Universiteit of Hogeschool
Universiteit Antwerpen
Thesis jaar
2026
Promotor(en) en begeleiders
Lieven Bervoets, Moses Ndugwa
Thema('s)
Natuur en landbouw,
Toegepaste biologische wetenschappen,
Wetenschappen
Kernwoorden
offshore wind,
windenergie,
Metaalvervuiling,
hernieuwbare energie,
windturbines,
milieuvervuiling,
zebravis