Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Charles Hendry)
I am today announcing the outcome of the offshore energy strategic environmental assessment (OESEA2) regarding future offshore energy developments.
In 2009, DECC completed a strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of a draft plan/programme to hold further rounds of offshore leasing for wind and offshore oil and gas licensing in United Kingdom waters (OESEA). Then in 2010, DECC undertook an exercise to update and extend the scope of the OESEA environmental report (OESEA2) and issue it for consultation to enable further licensing/leasing for offshore energy (oil and gas, gas storage including carbon dioxide transport and storage as part of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and offshore marine renewables, including wind, wave and tidal.
The renewable energy elements of the draft plan/programme cover parts of the UK renewable energy zone and the territorial waters of England and Wales; for hydrocarbon gas and carbon dioxide storage it applies to UK waters (territorial waters and the UK gas importation and storage zone); and for hydrocarbon exploration and production it applies to all UK waters.
A 12-week public consultation on the OESEA2 environmental report closed on 12 May 2011. All responses received on the draft plan/programme and the environmental report have been considered by DECC and a post consultation report for the offshore energy SEA has been prepared and placed on the SEA website (www.offshore-sea.org.uk). This summarises consultee comments and DECC responses to them, and presents a final list of recommendations.
In the light of the final recommendations set out in the post-consultation report, the Department concludes that there are no overriding environmental considerations to prevent the achievement of our draft plan/programme of leasing offshore wind, wave and tidal, licensing/leasing for seaward oil and gas rounds, hydrocarbon and carbon dioxide storage, provided appropriate measures are implemented that prevent, reduce and offset significant adverse impacts on the environment and other users of the sea.
In all cases, the relevant competent authority should undertake any appropriate assessments(s) prior to awarding licences or leases under the rounds, where screening shows this to be necessary. This is to meet the requirements of EU Council Directive 79/409 EEC on “the conservation of wild birds” and Council Directive 92/43/EEC on “the conservation of natural habitats and wild fauna and flora”, and UK implementing regulations.
DECC will now make preparations to proceed for a further round—the 27th—of offshore licensing for oil and gas. This is expected to be launched in early 2012 and a further announcement will be made on the timing of the round.
DECC and Scottish Ministers (where appropriate) are now also in a position to consider applications for carbon dioxide storage licences, and to issue those licences, and subsequently to issue storage permits, where the applications meet regulatory requirements.
OESEA2 paves the way for future leasing rounds for marine (wave and tidal) energy. It allows for an installed capacity of up to 33GW of offshore wind—subject to mitigation measures. This is in excess of the central range set out in the UK renewable energy roadmap, which indicates that up to 18GW of offshore wind could be deployed by 2020.
The environmental report highlights that siting and consenting processes for offshore renewable energy developments must remain flexible to allow for technological innovation, including any mitigation measures.