The analysis performed by Nemus falls within the environmental impact assessment of the Sines power plant, a project with the purpose of implementing a combined cycle power plant fueled with natural gas in the S. Torpes region, next to the Sines’ thermal power plant and harbour. In 2001 Nemus analyzed the aquatic ecosystems components for IDOM and in 2004 the ecology components for Procesl, with the ultimate client being EDP.
The process of assessing the impact on the marine ecosystems was conducted in order to distinguish between the impacts caused by the natural unpredictability which results from the spatial and temporal variability of the communities, the complex development processes of the species and the interspecific relations which determine the community’s structure.
Only through the right experimental drawing planning, conceived to evade natural variations, can this analytical potential be reach. The study was therefore built upon the use of marine areas under the influence of the Sines’ thermal power plant as a predictive model of the future evolution of the implementation area of the project under review.