ETIP Ocean & OES-Environmental Webinar: Marine Spatial Planning and Ocean Energy Development

Webinar #18 in the OES Environmental Webinar Series
November 19, 2019 15:00 (3 PM) UTC / 16:00 (4 PM) CET / 7:00 (7 AM) PST

The ETIP Ocean 2 project is an EU – Horizon 2020 project which aims to ensure optimal use of existing resources for the Ocean Energy sector and streamline sectoral activities in order to support and accelerate European and global deployment of ocean energy, ensuring that the potential benefits for European industry and society are maximised. The identification of the key environmental research, policy and regulatory recommendations that require action at an EU and Member State level is part of ETIP Ocean 2 project to facilitate the roll out of the ocean energy sector. This analysis will deepen the understanding of marine environment effects and consenting challenges and clearly identify solutions.

The EU Marine Spatial Planning Directive sets a deadline for the establishment of national maritime spatial plans in 2021. In this webinar practices will be discussed for MSP in terms of its support to ocean energy development. Member States are in different phases of MSP development, with some plans already implemented and others in preparation. In this webinar, you will hear experts discussing MSP approaches and opportunities to the ocean energy sector, how some national maritime spatial plans are being implemented and what they can offer to a more effective ocean energy deployment.

Webinar Presenters:

Anne Marie O'Hagan, Research Fellow, MaREI Centre for Marine and Renewable Energy
Dr. Anne Marie O’Hagan is a Senior Research Fellow in the MaREI Centre, ERI, UCC and has over 15 years of experience in applied marine and coastal research. Her background is in environmental science and law. Anne Marie’s recent work has focused on the legal aspects of ocean energy development, planning and management systems for offshore energy devices and their environmental effects. She is involved in a number of multidisciplinary projects focused on aquaculture, maritime spatial planning, environmental assessment, and risk-based consenting. Anne Marie represents MaREI on a number of working groups including the International Energy Agency’s Ocean Energy Systems Agreement (IEA-OES), the EC’s Ocean Energy Forum Environment and Consenting Steering Committee, ICES Working Group on Marine Renewable Energy and the all-Ireland Marine Renewables Industry Association (MRIA). She also teaches on the LLM in Marine Law (Law School, UCC) and the MSc in Applied Coastal and Marine Management (Department of Geography, UCC). The presentation slides are available here.

Andy Lanier, Marine Affairs Coordinator for the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development
Andy Lanier is the Marine Affairs Coordinator for the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development.  As a staff person working for Oregon’s Coastal Management Program, Andy provides staff support for the Oregon Ocean Policy Advisory Council, and ocean planning processes of the State including marine conservation and marine renewable energy development as part of the stewardship of Oregon’s Territorial Sea Plan.  Andy also currently serves as Co-Chair of the West Coast Ocean Data Portal, working to support the work of the West Coast Ocean Alliance, and the Chair of the Pacific Marine and Estuarine Fish Habitat Partnership. The presentation slides are available here.

Drew Milne, Senior Policy Officer in Marine Planning (Offshore Renewable Energy) at Marine Scotland
Drew Milne is a Senior Policy Officer within the Marine Scotland (Scottish Government) Planning and Strategy team and has been with Marine Scotland since 2012.  Drew’s current work is focused on the delivery of the new Sectoral Marine Plan for offshore wind, leading on the technical work to identify spatial options and associated assessments.  Prior to this role, Drew was responsible for the development of the Marine Scotland Information portal and GIS support for planning and licensing. The presentation slides are available here.

A recording of the webinar is available here: