Studies of wave energy demonstration projects in each of the collaborating EU nations have contributed to the findings. The study sites comprise a wide range of device technologies, environmental settings and stakeholder interests. Through SOWFIA workshops, meetings, on-going communication and networking amongst project partners, ideas and experiences relating to IA and policy have been shared, and co-ordinated studies addressing key questions for wave energy development carried out.
The overall goal of the SOWFIA project is to provide recommendations for European-wide streamlining of IA and approval processes, thereby helping to remove legal, environmental and socio-economic barriers to the development of offshore power generation from waves.
SOWFIA has gathered information on consenting processes, environmental monitoring and stakeholder interests at European wave energy test centres and has analysed this information to identify commonalities and differences between Member States. Test Centres have to go through the same processes that wave farms will and so are a good template for studying Impact Assessment. They also provide important baseline environmental data that can be checked over the pursuing years for WEC effects. The EIAs for each of the test centres have been synthesised and compared and through this analysis, the following recurrent themes in EIAs have emerged:
SOWFIA recommendations for wave energy IA streamlining are derived from consultation, workshops and dissemination activities involving a wide range of representatives from the wave energy community, including device developers, utilities, regulatory authorities, financiers and other stakeholders. Three critical themes have emerged, in which the recommendations are presented:
‘Strategic’ recommendations are viewed as being longer term actions perhaps requiring more significant changes and resources. ‘Operational’ recommendations refer to shorter term actions which could be implemented with minimal changes yet have the potential to make significant improvements to the consenting process. It should be noted that the level of resources (time/cost/re-structuring) will vary according to geographic location.
The overall goal of the SOWFIA project is to provide recommendations for European-wide streamlining of IA and approval processes, thereby helping to remove legal, environmental and socio-economic barriers to the development of offshore power generation from waves.
SOWFIA has gathered information on consenting processes, environmental monitoring and stakeholder interests at European wave energy test centres and has analysed this information to identify commonalities and differences between Member States. Test Centres have to go through the same processes that wave farms will and so are a good template for studying Impact Assessment. They also provide important baseline environmental data that can be checked over the pursuing years for WEC effects. The EIAs for each of the test centres have been synthesised and compared and through this analysis, the following recurrent themes in EIAs have emerged:
- Length of Baseline Studies. For most receptors, two years is identified as the minimum time to provide a baseline sufficient to detect changes attributable to the presence of WECs in the future.
- Electromagnetic Fields. There is a lack of any documented evidence of significant behavioural effect at a species level from EMF emissions by any existing undersea power cables. More work is needed to clarify this situation.
- EIA Monitoring Methodology. A BAG (Before-After-Gradient) design may be preferred by developers over a BACI (Before-After-Control-Impact) design (see Section 3.3).
SOWFIA recommendations for wave energy IA streamlining are derived from consultation, workshops and dissemination activities involving a wide range of representatives from the wave energy community, including device developers, utilities, regulatory authorities, financiers and other stakeholders. Three critical themes have emerged, in which the recommendations are presented:
- Integrated Planning and Administrative Procedures
- Environmental Impact Assessment
- Human Dimensions and Consultation.
The synthesis of barriers, accelerators, lessons learned and recommendations are presented in Sections 2, 3 and 4 for each of these critical themes. Overall ‘Strategic’ and detailed ‘Operational’ recommendations are given for each of the themes, resulting from the European consultation and analysis. These are supplemented by Member State specific recommendations derived from consultation with national regulatory authorities and policy makers with the intention of making the recommendations more relevant to individual countries.
‘Strategic’ recommendations are viewed as being longer term actions perhaps requiring more significant changes and resources. ‘Operational’ recommendations refer to shorter term actions which could be implemented with minimal changes yet have the potential to make significant improvements to the consenting process. It should be noted that the level of resources (time/cost/re-structuring) will vary according to geographic location.
