EUSEW examines offshore renewables consenting

The implementation of the risk based approach to consenting of offshore renewable energy projects will be discussed today at the European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) conference.

The project, known as RiCORE, supports the achievement of over-arching European policies – such as the Integrated Maritime Policy, the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan and Blue Growth strategy.

The aim of the RiCORE project is to establish a risk-based approach to consenting where the level of survey requirement is based on the environmental sensitivity of the site, the risk profile of the technology and the scale of the proposed project

The session ‘Consenting Of Offshore Renewable Energy Projects: Implementing A Risk Based Approach’ will be held at Belgium Résidence Palace today at 2 pm, and will feature discussions on offshore renewable projects consenting in Europe with regards to national and EU legal requirement.

Also, a debate on key issues regarding the consenting barrieer will led by Jeremy Gault from University College Cork (UCC).

The session will also include discussions on risk based approaches for consenting according to technology profile recommendations, pre and post-consenting environmental surveys, as well as the final debate on recommendations for risk based approaches integration in consenting offshore renewable energy project.

In addition to Jeremy Gault, other speakers at the session include David Gray from Robert Gordon University (RGU), Finlay Bennet from Marine Scotland, Juan Bald from AZTI Spain, Pierre Mascarenhas from E-CUBE France, Anne Marie O’Hagan from UCC, and Teresa Sims from WavEC.

RiCORE project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, will run between January 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016.

The project partners include RGU, Marine Scotland, UCC, WavEC, AZTI-Tecnalia and E-Cube Strategy Consultants.