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

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3.1.2 Good practicesGreece has recently promulgated a law 34 that is expected to facilitate the siting of offshore windfarms. The Act lays down a special regime for offshore wind farms with strategic zone planning andpublic tenders for the construction and exploitation of offshore wind farms. It is however too early toassess the results of this policy since the ongoing Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) willdefinitively set out the appropriate sites for offshore wind farms and their maximum installedcapacity. Although it is not a comprehensive MSP policy, this sectorial zoning, combined with theplans for grid connection with the mainland and the SEA exercise, is supposed to create thenecessary legal certainty for ORE investors.Similar to Greece, Spain has established a specific ORE zoning practice. In 2009, a StrategicEnvironmental Assessment (SEA) was published for the installation of offshore wind farms. This SEAclassifies the territorial sea in three categories: green areas are available for offshore energydeployment, red areas are excluded for offshore energy deployment and yellow areas („maybe-zones‟)can be considered for ORE but possible conflicts with other activities or environmental impact shouldbe analysed in detail. Surprisingly, quite a number of zones in the territorial sea along theMediterranean coast seem to be green areas, even some around the highly touristic Balearic isles.However, despite the enormous potential of maritime zones in Spain and a proven track record inonshore wind energy, the NREAP 2020 target of 3,000 MW offshore wind for all its coasts, not only inthe Mediterranean but also on the Atlantic coast, seem to be rather modest. In spite of the difficultcontext of the Mediterranean Sea basin with the maritime barrier delimitation issue, some interesting„MSP like’ policy practices favouring the development of ORE in the territorial seas are beingdeveloped by Greece and Spain, whereas the pre-definition of zones in view of an offshore tender inFrance has excluded any ORE development on its Mediterranean coast. It is further interesting toobserve that the ORE planning practices arise from national renewable energy acts, not fromcomprehensive marine spatial planning legislation.3.1.3 Policy recommendationsThe importance of the shipping and fisheries sector for the Mediterranean economy, and thesensitive geopolitical situation in the Mediterranean basin (Middle East, North Africa,) may explainthe ongoing difficulty of Mediterranean coastal states to implement the extension of its coastal statejurisdiction beyond the territorial seas.• In the absence of EEZs, a policy that aims at developing offshore energy within the 20% REStarget by 2020, should primarily try to develop MSP or sectorial ORE zoning legislation in theterritorial seas, like Greece and Spain have recently done,• The tourism, fisheries and shipping sectors should be involved in determining the ORE zoningpolicy in the territorial sea at the earliest possible stage, since it will substantially reduce the riskof conflicts between historic users and ORE „newcomers‟,34 Act No. 3851/2010 on “Accelerating the Development of Renewable Energy Sources to Combat ClimateChange”.Deliverable D 2.370 | P a g e
• As long as no EEZs are claimed, and with a „beyond 2020‟ perspective, it would be interesting toexplore the legal possibilities of delimitating one or more ORE test zones in the high seas , anarea which constitutes 53 % of the Mediterranean maritime space. -This may be an interestingMSP experiment, but should be best discussed at international level (i.e. IMO, FAO) or at seabasin level (EUROMED). Such test MSPs (like the ones that are currently conducted in the BalticSea) or ORE zoning experiments in the high seas may create a perspective to liberate the largepotential of ORE zones in the Mediterranean Sea. This possibility will be further analysed in thepart focusing on international MSP instruments and approach,• Any MSP or ORE zoning policy should also take into account the geopolitical significance of theMediterranean Sea Basin. The important presence of national and NATO naval bases with theirperimeter for military exercises such as fly zones, clearing of subsea mines, military explosionzones, is likely to have an impact on the spatial availability for ORE development.3.2. PERMITTING AND LICENSING3.2.1 Barriers and obstaclesThe absence of designated zones for offshore wind farms appears to be an important barrier since itleaves the developer with a fundamental basic legal uncertainty in terms of appropriate ORE siting.This is illustrated in the Italian licensing process.However, designated ORE zones may be an insufficient condition for sound permitting procedures ifthey are not preceded by a SEA, which seems to be the case in Greece. Specific ORE zones havebeen designated through the Renewables Act of 2010, but the outcome of the ongoing SEA processfor the specific ORE areas may eventually undo the legal certainty for certain areas.Having a „multi-step‟ approach to licensing may equally discourage ORE development: the permittingand licensing regime in Spain, in spite of being soundly rooted in legislation, seems a rather heavyprocess with a minimum of five steps, which multiplies the risk of refusals during or, worse, at theend of the long multi-stage process.The grid connection licensing regime often constitutes the most decisive barrier for ORE investments.If the possibility to inject the produced electricity is not guaranteed by air-tight legislation orcontractual agreement, investors are likely to go to other ORE markets where the grid connection fornew electricity generation is guaranteed. In Spain no concrete planning studies for enhancing thegrid capacity have been published so far, which may turn out to be the most important barrier in thelicensing process.3.2.2 Good practicesHandling the permitting process through a single procedure for the authorisation to construct on theone hand and a single authorisation procedure for electricity transmission on the other, like in Italy,Deliverable D 2.371 | P a g e
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThis study forms p
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TASK 2.6: TABLE OF CONTENTSTASK 2.6
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1 INTRODUCTIONThis report responds
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Before going any further in terms o
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procedures, in terms of for example
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3 DATA AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT3.
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3.3 Best practice in data and infor
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the required data. Once the „cada
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Encourage the use of legislation to
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Page 22 and 23: seabed without an EEZ claim being m
Page 24 and 25: een granted. A similar indicator wa
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Page 32 and 33: What particularly distinguishes som
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Page 40 and 41: 7 TRANSBOUNDARY COOPERATIONThe aim
Page 42 and 43: Support regional sea-basin cooperat
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Page 48 and 49: Optimal spatial use of the maritime
Page 50 and 51: 9 FINAL POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS9.1 O
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Page 58 and 59: Task 2.7: Table of Contents1 ATLANT
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