The installation of offshore wind farms is rising, driven by the goal of changing the global energy matrix. However, many of their possible impacts are still unknown. Increased noise levels, disruptions to food chains, pollution due to traffic, and impacts on fishing communities and tourism are all potential effects to consider. Marine habitats are essential carbon dioxide sinks. Therefore, losing marine biodiversity due to offshore wind farms can be counterproductive in mitigating climate change. Balancing biodiversity conservation, wind potential, and political interests is challenging. Today, Uruguay has significantly decreased the fossil share in its electricity generation, incorporating electricity generation from wind, solar, and biomass energy alongside hydroelectricity. In line with this, the country’s Hydrogen Roadmap highlights green hydrogen as relevant, potentially serving as a fuel for both domestic and export transportation. Combining the country’s strong base of wind energy production experience with its sustainable policy, it plans to implement offshore wind farms to produce green hydrogen, making studies of its impacts crucial. This paper reviews the current social and environmental information on the Uruguayan coastal habitat, analyzes onshore wind farms’ ecological studies, and examines offshore wind farms’ global environmental and social impacts. Finally, it proposes studies for environmental approval of offshore wind farms.

Installation of offshore wind farms is rising, driven by the goal of changing the global energy matrix. However, many of its possible impacts are still unknown. Increased noise levels, disruptions to food chains, pollution due to traffic, and impacts on fishing communities and tourism are all potential effects to consider. Marine habitats are essential carbon dioxide sinks. Therefore, losing marine biodiversity due to offshore wind farms can be counterproductive in mitigating climate change. Balancing biodiversity conservation, wind potential, and political interests is challenging. Today, Uruguay has practically decarbonized its electrical matrix, incorporating wind, solar, and biomass energy alongside hydroelectricity. In line with this, the country's Hydrogen Roadmap highlights green hydrogen as relevant, potentially serving as a transportation fuel for both domestic consumption and export. Combining the country's strong base of wind experience with its sustainable policy, it plans to implement offshore wind farms to produce green hydrogen, making studies of its impacts crucial. This paper reviews the current social and environmental information on the Uruguayan coastal habitat, analyzes onshore wind farms' ecological studies, and examines offshore wind farms' global environmental and social impacts. Finally, it proposes suggested studies for environmental approval for offshore wind farms.

Atmospheric stability regulates wind shear, turbulence, and turbine power output, so its misrepresentation by mesoscale models can bias wind resource estimates. Previous studies assessed stability effects on energy yield from either observations or simulations, mostly at mid-latitude sites. This study applies the same stability-segregated energy calculation to both at Jandaíra, in the semi-arid region of Northeast Brazil, during the dry season (June–December 2024). A 173 m meteorological tower was compared with WRF v4.3 simulations (NCAR TROPICAL suite, YSU boundary layer scheme, 2 km grid). Stability was classified with the bulk Richardson number and the Monin–Obukhov length, and energy production was estimated for the NREL 5 MW and DTU 10 MW reference turbines. Observations show a predominantly stable 10–100 m layer following the diurnal cycle and a predominantly unstable 100–130 m layer. WRF reproduces the lower-layer diurnal pattern but overestimates nighttime stability above 100 m; wind speed RMSE decreases from 2.76 m/s at 10 m to 1.87 m/s at 150 m. Simulated energy production is 35.5–39.5% lower than observed. Stability segregation changes the estimate in opposite directions (−14.3 to −14.7% observed; +10.0 to +11.0% simulated), so a correction based on simulated stability may bias energy yield estimates in semi-arid tropical regions.