Environment Group

Workshops from the NSC Environment Group Conference

Wind energy - How and Where ?

Blankenberge, 6-9 November 2002

Report Workshop C Planning procedures / methods off shore

Facilitator : Göran Dalén (Airicole AB - Sweden)
Secretary : Françoise Lantsoght (Province of West Flanders - Belgium)

Situation in Sweden

Developer looks into interesting sites and will ask for permits

à contacts local authorities

à    and regional authorities

à and governmental bodies

National planning goal for wind energy (10 TWh by 2015) à regional policy à municipality policy à first draft of a general plan
à afterwards detailed plan with Environmental impact Assessment (EIA)

Submitted to Environmental Court (sends out EIA to several partners)

Depending how far you get away from shore : different permits and degrees of difficulty to get them.
- always : permit according to the environmental law + permit for the cable according to the electric law
- close to shore : permit by the local owner of the water
- more than 300m away : permit from the State to use the water
- less than 12 nautical miles : building permit from the Community +
- more then 12 nautical miles : no building permit required but permit according to the Swedish economic zone, the continental shelf law and agreement with surrounding countries is required

Project of more than 10 MW : Environmental Court will make recommendation to Swedish government.
Duration procedure from start to delivery of permit : 2 years (in reality  it takes close to 4 years before all permits are given).

Situation in Belgium

Granting a licence = competence of the federal government

2 phases : 1) domain concession (Royal Decree 20/12/2000)  
                    2) construction & exploitation permit (Law on Protection of the Marine  
                      Environment; Royal Decree 20/12/2000)

Application for a permit àMUMM (Management Unit Mathematical   Models)  
compulsory EIA  
Minister decides on permit : for instance Seanergy got environmental permit from Minister on 25/06/2002. Although there have been some consultation rounds in coastal towns, still a lot of commotion about the planned offshore wind farm

Deficiencies :  
- there is no spatial planning in marine waters  
- there is no legal framework  
- there are no marine protected areas yet  
- there is no formal involvement from the Flemish Region  
- there is no structural public participation foreseen by law

Situation in UK

- sectoral approach  
- dealing with governmental departments (not so much local authorities)  
- no spatial planning (every sector makes their own case)

Situation in Denmark

- starting to lack space on land  
- therefore growing interest offshore  
- territorial waters = national property à planning on governmental level  
(but : windmills on islands = regional matter)

Important issues & bottlenecks

1)  EIA instrument : can it be used in common ?

à could it be improved together (what is essence of content)?  
à when is an EIA necessary ?  
à who does the EIA ?  
à who is advising the political decision-makers ?  
à how accountable is the EIA ?  
- screening processes and scooping should be analysed on a common basis  
- need for a databank of EIA made in different EU countries à learning experience  
- problem : there is a lot of suspicion about the decision-making process

2) Need for common guidelines

3) Need for planning for the entire North Sea à designation of zones (flexible spatial planning)
but : we also have to be careful not to "kill" potential initiatives by too many regulations à in many cases a step-by-step approach is advisable

4)  Awareness programme should help public understand that room for new (green,   
     renewable) energy is an absolute necessity

5) Wish for joined monitoring programme (on seal/bird life)

6) Get a better understanding about the transition of a potential project to a actual  project

7) look into potential added value of "artificial reefs" (chance for new organic growth ?)