Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
and stated that future development was to be focused in three “Strategic Areas”—the
Thames Estuary, the Greater Wash and Liverpool Bay (Figure 9.4). These areas were
selected as having the greatest development potential, based on the potential wind
resource available, the bathymetry of the offshore area, proximity to existing grid
connections and initial expressions of interest from developers (DTI 2003b); however,
environmental constraints do not appear to have influenced the choice of strategic areas.
A three-month consultation period on the “Future Offshore” document started in
November 2002. The SEA of the government's plans for Round 2 licensing, which is the
focus of this case study, started at the same time, with the resulting SEA Environmental
Report submitted in May 2003 (for a 28-day consultation period). Despite this SEA
process, the government was keen to maintain the pace of development in the offshore
wind energy industry, and the deadline for developers to submit expressions of interest
for Round 2 site leases to the Crown Estate was the end of March 2003—i.e. prior to the
completion of the SEA Environmental Report or the receipt of consultation responses on
this report.
The successful bids for Round 2 developments were finally announced in December
2003. These included 15 projects with a total capacity of between 5.4 and 7.2 GW—this
compares with the 1.2 GW consented under Round 1, and so represented a step change in
the development of the industry in the UK. Some of the selected sites soon proved
controversial, with concerns about the potential impacts on important bird habitats raised
by the RSPB (2003).
9.8.3 The SEA approach
The SEA in this case was of the UK Government's draft programme for the second
licensing round of offshore wind energy development. The SEA was commissioned by
the DTI voluntarily, in accordance with the requirements of the EU SEA Directive
(although this had not yet been implemented at the time). The timescale under assessment
was from the present (2003) until 2020, with separate assessments undertaken of
development up to 2010 and 2020 (DTI 2003a). Two potential development scenarios
(“likely” and “maximum credible”) were considered and their likely impacts assessed.
The “likely” scenario envisaged the development of 4.0 GW of capacity by 2010, whilst
the “maximum credible” scenario envisaged 7.5 GW. By 2020, these figures increase to
10.2 and 17.5 GW respectively. A no-development option was also considered.
A Steering Group was used to guide the SEA process, with its membership drawn
from specialists in coastal/marine environmental issues, wind energy development and
SEA. Steering Group members included representatives from relevant government
departments (DTI, DEFRA, ODPM); the Crown Estate; the British Wind Energy
Association (BWEA), the body representing the UK wind energy industry; government
and non-governmental environmental organizations, such as the RSPB, Joint Nature
Conservancy Council (JNCC), Countryside Council for Wales, and EN; and the IEMA,
the body representing the UK EIA “industry”.
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