Abstract
In October 2010, the SOWFIA project (Streamlining of Ocean Wave Farms Impact Assessment) was launched. The SOWFIA project draws together partners from across Europe that have an interest in streamlining impact assessment for wave farm developments.
This deliverable is part of the Work Package 2, aimed to identify non-technological barriers and accelerators of the Impact Assessment process among EU Member states and import the lessons learned to date in wave energy developments in Europe. Information has been gathered through a series of workshops, interviews, surveys and meetings.
Within this framework an analysis of the workshop and questionnaires conducted in previous deliverables (D2.2 & D2.3) has been carried out to extract from developers’ experiences the common barriers and accelerators to wave energy development in each country and compare them in order to reach recommendations for the streamlining of the impact assessment across all EU Member states. This report does not intend to be an exhaustive list of the non-technological barriers and accelerators to wave energy development as this was one of the outputs of the EU IEE WAVEPLAM (2007 – 2010) project. Rather, it aims to analyse information gathered from real experience of recent wave energy developments and described in D2.2 and D2.3. This analysis aims to describe the procedures experienced for the development of marine energy installations in each country and identify what the challenges are and what commitments should be made by policy makers and regulators if wave energy is to be brought to the forefront of the renewable energy market.
The countries analysed are those in which surveys were conducted. We can observe that more data is available for analysis from those countries that have been more active in the development of wave energy projects. In these countries, the procedure is clearly defined whilst the analysis of the countries with less information is based on the experience of a smaller number of project developers. The countries for which the analysis is carried out are the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
The layout of this document consists of the analysis of the Workshop A (“Real Experience to Date in Wave Energy Development”), followed by the analysis of the questionnaires (“Site and technology developers, project financers and authorities questionnaires”) divided by country. A summary of both analyses follows, comparing the main aspects from a general view, and can be used as a preview for the last section. Recommendations for the streamlining of the ocean wave farms impact assessment are given in the last section of the report expressing the suggestions of the SOWFIA project team at this interim stage of the project.