Marine Spatial Planning in Asian Offshore Wind
With an increasingly busy marine environment, what are the challenges to look out for in marine spatial planning when looking to develop an offshore wind farm.
Dr Nguyen Dinh – OWC Head of Hydrogen and Principal in Vietnam and Ireland, recently addressed the topic in his keynote speech at the Workshop “Offshore Wind and other Renewable Energy Resources for Energy Transition”, part of the 4th Asia Pacific Meeting on Near Surface Geoscience and Engineering.
The event which took place 29th November in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, was kicked off by Nguyen’s presentation delivered virtually, on “Marine Spatial Planning and Development of National Offshore Wind Energy: Europe Experience”.
Scope of Presentation
The presentation looked at the progress made in marine planning in Europe, with particular emphasis on the UK, Germany and Ireland. It covered details on the following relevant OWC experts’ experience:
- Germany’s Federal Maritime & Hydrographic Agency (BSH) has selected OWC to analyse and assess wind conditions for two offshore wind tender sites
- Ireland Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan (Phase 1, issued in 2014) where an OWC expert was leading the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)
- Multi-disciplinary blueprint for national offshore wind development in Ireland 2020 – 2050 where an OWC expert was co-leading and managing the Consortium
The presentation concluded with recommendations of several solutions for Vietnam and Asia marine planning and national offshore wind development.
Nguyen’s key recommendations for marine spatial planning for offshore wind in Vietnam and Asia
- Availability of data is critical
- Experience taken from other countries is important
- Successful national offshore wind development needs planning beyond electricity sectors
- OWC and the wider AqualisBraemar LOC Group (ABL Group) have a lot of expertise from supporting over 220 offshore wind farms globally, to add to planning the development of your offshore wind farm!