Navigating Consenting Processes for Environmental Effects of Marine Renewable Energy: Regulatory and Industry Perspectives

OES-Environmental hosted a public webinar, “Navigating Consenting Processes for Environmental Effects of Marine Renewable Energy: Regulatory and Industry Perspectives” from 8:00–9:30am PDT (3:00–4:30pm UTC) on 13 October 2026. The webinar included presentations from OES-Environmental, CorPower Ocean, and the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE).

• Mikaela Freeman, Research Scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, shared OES-Environmental’s ongoing research and coordination efforts on environmental effects of marine renewable energy and findings from their recent survey of regulators and advisors in eight countries. 
• Quentin Geerinckx, Senior Project Manager at CorPower Ocean, shared their current projects and future developments in Portugal and Scotland (HiWave-5, VianaWave, and Valiant), how they have navigated various environmental consenting regimes, environmental monitoring and data collection efforts, and lessons learned from these experiences.
• Lindsay Bennett, Executive Director at FORCE, presented on Canada’s Tidal Energy Task Force and its outcomes, FORCE’s work to advance next generation monitoring tools and approaches in Minas Passage, and moving towards new deployments at FORCE. 

View the webinar slides here and the webinar recording below.