such as health and safety requirements, crew and vessel requirements, and component certification can inflate costs. For example, these differences can limit the ability to service multiple farms using the same support equipment, or re-use designs from similar projects elsewhere. Work to identify and remove unnecessary barriers, for example through the mutual recognition of standards, can therefore help to reduce costs.
10.3.2 Proposal
The proposed roadmap itself is shown in Figure 10-1 below and consists of a number of steps that are organised by subject area and approximate timing. We discuss each of these in detail in the remainder of this section, noting the organisation or group that we believe is the logical owner of the associated task. We also set out a list of relevant stakeholders that ought to be involved and explain the nature of the anticipated work and the barrier that the work is intended to address, as well as indicating a timeframe for the different elements and the linkages between roadmap elements.
We use the following system for referring to the different roadmap elements:
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The numbers 1-5 are used for referring to the main policy areas: 1 Support mechanisms and targets
2. Maritime Spatial Planning
3. Licensing
4. Electricity network
5. Standards and regulation
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The letters a-f denote the individual roadmap elements under each type of policy area.›
Finally, the timeframe is indicated by ST (short term, 2020-2025), MT (medium term, 2025- 2030) and LT (long term, 2030-2040).Particularly important in terms of stakeholder interaction will be the need to sensibly involve and collaborate with similar work that is ongoing in the North Sea. The box below provides some background on this work. Specific interactions are noted in the description of the relevant elements.
Regional Cooperation in the North Sea and best practices for BEMIP
In 2009, nine Member States and Norway established what has become the North Seas Energy Cooperation (NSEC) group, a platform for the development of common solutions to grid infrastructure and offshore wind deployment in the North and Irish Seas. Through the group, efforts were made to coordinate political and regulatory action, share learnings and provide a model for collaboration in other European regions. It was hoped that deployment costs could be driven down through collaboration in, for example, developing joint maritime spatial plans, harmonising rules and coordinating tenders.
The group signed a political declaration in 2016 that set the structure of its current work, based on voluntary collaboration. Importantly, dedicated Support Groups were formed to assist efforts in the following four areas:
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Maritime Spatial Planning›
Development and regulation of offshore grids and infrastructure›
Support frameworks and finance›
Standards, technical rules and regulationsThese spheres have been designated in response to challenges facing the NSEC member countries that are quite similar to the ones BEMIP is confronted with. Cooperation in said areas entails cost efficiencies and can lead to a timelier implementation reducing the costs of the
energy transition.
One important finding by NSEC concerns cluster-based solutions at the borders of the involved states exclusive economic zones (EEZs). Such projects have been identified to very likely result in cost savings and more efficient deployment of offshore wind parks and could hence serve as a model approach to BEMIP member states.
Since challenges revolving around legal and regulatory differences in each member state constitute an equally onerous barrier to joint offshore plans in the North and Baltic Seas, approaching the NSEC Support Groups in each of the areas can help to overcome initial questions regarding the optimal manner of collaborating on these topics.
One important step that could build on the work of NSEC Support Group 2 would be the establishment of regular meetings to agree on common objectives taking into account individual countries’ offshore development plans.
Due to the fact that both, BEMIP and NSEC, face similar challenges, results of the already conducted work programmes and studies, as well as coordination efforts of the North Sea initiative can serve as important guidelines, contact points for the exchange of ideas and insights, and for common learning.
Other projects or bodies established in the North Seas that are relevant for cooperation on offshore wind power related issues may also serve as useful models or potential collaborators for the tasks outlined below. These include:
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CPMR North Sea Commission (1989), a general body aimed at strengthening of partnerships between regional authorities in the North Sea›
Such a body already exists for the Baltic Sea. Cooperation platforms set up as part of the institution could facilitate exchange of ideas, practices and cooperation in order to achieve a common approach in the development of a regionally-coordinated offshore wind sector.›
SEANERGY 2020 (2012), a programme to remove maritime spatial planning (MSP) obstacles, identify inconsistencies between national MSP processes and implement new shared MSP instruments›
The MSP challenges and solutions identified in this initiative financed by the Intellligent Energy for Europe Programme could serve as an important guideline for BEMIP’s actions in this area.›
MAP MEP (2015), an interactive energy map for the North Sea›
EMODnet should serve as a logical successor to the above project and comprise energy projects in the Baltic countries as a centralised MSP tool for all involved member states.›
PROMOTioN (2015), a project to support the development of meshed HVDC offshore grids›
Baltic InteGrid and PROMOTioN arrived at similar conclusions: cost savings and efficiency can be increased by pursuing a meshed offshore grid in the North as well as in the Baltic Sea. A comparison of both final reports could give valuable insights into areas where more cooperation would be beneficial for the regions.›
Inn2Power (2016), a project to facilitate improved access to the offshore wind market forsmall and mid-sized enterprises in the region
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Since the development of an offshore wind market will lead to job growth in the sector, establishing a platform for an overview of and the exchange among SME players will greatly improve the local strengths of the sector.›
NorthSEE (2016), a project to encourage greater coherence in MSP in the areas of shipping, energy and environmental protection›
Reaching out to the NorthSEE responsibles will help to identify lack of coherence and give input to BEMIP to overcome challenges that are going to be very similar to the ones in the North Sea space.›
SEANSE (2018), a project to encourage coherent strategic and environmental assessments for renewable energy sources (RES) in the development and implementation of MSP›
Similar to NorthSEE, a closer look at the findings from SEANSE will give guidelines to common procedures in the strategic and environmental evaluation of RES in the Baltic Seas.Figure 10-1 Roadmap