Recommendations
Energy and grid
- Establish a dedicated transnational regulatory framework for offshore grid.
- Identify current and future areas of large energy generation offshore and energy demand onshore and match them up.
- Designate a well-defined and centralised responsibility for developing post 2020 offshore grid.
- Ensure any new cables are effectively buried or protected and the locations are accurately recorded on navigational charts.
NSR countries
- Maintain continued pledge to the Political Declaration on energy cooperation in North Sea countries.
- Prioritise the development of interconnections with those neighbours that are below any of the thresholds (e.g. UK and Germany) in a spirit of solidarity and cooperation.
MSP
- Develop a Spatial Offshore Grid Plan which takes into account energy and climate change targets, current and future energy industry trends, spatial planning principles and criteria and integrates cable corridors and gates.
- Facilitate stakeholder involvement in offshore grid planning and consult a wide range of relevant stakeholders in the marine planning and licensing process at an early stage.
- Designate cable corridors in areas of least constraint, especially in congested near shore areas.
- Identify new areas for landfall points.
- Identify viable grid connection points and terrestrial sites for land-based converter stations early on in the planning process to enable cable efficient routing.
- Connect terrestrial land planning to MSP when it comes to offshore wind farms, grid development, onshore converter stations and land fall points.
- Consider optimal expansion of offshore grid from a transnational perspective rather than at a national level.
- Facilitate more transnational coordination and cooperation in offshore grid planning between all North Sea countries.
- Consider geographical locations of offshore energy generation, in particular floating or deep water offshore wind farms, in relation to onshore grid connection points.
- Consider grid connectivity when planning areas for wave and tidal energy developments and support their needs.
Future energy industry trends
- Encourage and support more transnational grid configurations such as the integrated approach.
- Continue to decommission old and unused cables and pipelines where environmentally feasible to avoid spatial conflicts with other marine users.
- Explore and invest in Carbon Capture and Storage opportunities in decommissioned pipelines.