Comparative analysis of Maritime Spatial Planning ... - Seanergy 2020

4 PERMITTING AND LICENSINGPermitting and licensing play key a role in Renewable Energy planning and implementation. In the contextof Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP), permits or licences are the means whereby the overall objectives ofMSP are translated into the rights and duties of individual project participants.4.1 Best practice in terms of permitting and licensing4.1.1 Guiding PrinciplesMany actions in the planning and implementation stages of Offshore Renewable Energy Projects (O-RE)projects are subject to permits and licensing and the main question is the extent to which the issue ofpermits is coordinated between different sectors e.g. maritime planning or electricity supply, the sectoralagencies, and between the overall objectives, in other words how streamlined and transparent is theprocess. The administrative procedures and the number and duration of permits have also beenaddressed by the WindBarriers project 10 which allows a complementary view to be taken. Furthermore, theprocess of applying for, determining and issuing permits has a cost both to the state and to individualapplicants. The extent to which permitting procedures are transparent and simple therefore gives anindication as to their relative ease of use, indirectly to the cost to applicants and e- the overall coherence ofthe spatial planning system.The legal framework for issue of licences or permits should be clear and efficient, but most importantly theinstitutional set-up (jurisdiction and cooperation/coordination) should be designed in a way that allows fora final decision that covers all aspects of a permit in a comprehensive, coherent, consistent andcost/effective manner.The implication of this is that the relationship between all authorities (on different levels, local, regional ornational, or sectors) involved in licensing should be well-coordinated, and the division of competencies andbetween the authorities should be clear. This is important since the underlying idea is that the overall setupshould allow for all relevant aspects/impacts of the licensing decision to be dealt with in an integratedand comprehensive manner. The evaluation reflects growing degrees of clarity of jurisdictions and theability of the system to provide for an integrated and comprehensive decision.10 The major objective of the IEE funded project, WindBarriers project (01 December 2008 – 30 November 2010) wasto obtain quantifiable data on barriers to administrative and grid access affecting the deployment of the wind energydevelopment in the EU countries. This project constituted the first attempt to systematically collect and quantifyadministrative and grid access data at EU level.Deliverable 2.319 | P a g e