OES advises on overcoming consenting process challenges

Ocean Energy Systems (OES) has issued a report that summarizes several aspects of the consenting process for ocean energy in the OES member countries, as well as making recommendations for overcoming the challenges encountered during that process.

The consenting process represents a critical barrier for ocean renewables industry development, OES states.

Administrative and regulatory issues need to be addressed in order to implement large scale ocean energy developments.

The report’s summarized recommendations for overcoming consenting process challenges are as follows:

1. Integrated Planning – the implementation of strategic plans like MSP (marine spatial planning) and SEA (strategic environmental assessment) allows a better management of the different marine areas,
2. Administrative Procedures – consolidate procedures and providing guidance to device developers, together with the establishment of fixed time frames and deadlines for each licensing step can also be an important measure to deal with licensing process delays,
3. Environmental Impact Assessment – an increased awareness and knowledge transfer in this field can be achieved by creating a public database on monitoring results and conclusions, as well as implementing a risk-based approach during the decision making process,
4. Consultation – stakeholder engagement and informal consultation with local stakeholders are the most important recommendation to overcome potential problems arising from public acceptance of the project, and close attention should be paid in order to provide as much as possible evidence-based information, both scientific and socio-economic while taking into account the needs of different stakeholders.

OES is an intergovernmental collaboration between countries operating under framework established by the International Energy Agency in Paris, and consisting of 20 member countries.

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Image: IEA/Illustration