OSPAR Database of Offshore Renewable Energy Developments: 2016 Status Report
Data are available on ODIMS via: https://odims.ospar.org/documents/361
The use of any renewable energy source makes a significant contribution towards climate protection and towards placing our energy supply on a sustainable ecological footing, thereby helping to conserve the natural balance. Nevertheless, the utilisation of renewable sources of energy can also have an adverse impact on the environment and our natural resources. Since 2001, OSPAR has been noting that the offshore renewables sector has been rapidly expanding in the OSPAR maritime area.
In order to better understand the situation and to help authorities to manage potential conflicting objectives and the expanding use of these offshore installations in an ecologically sustainable way, OSPAR agreed on a programme of work on the environmental impact of offshore renewable energy developments.
As part of this programme of work on offshore renewables, OSPAR has produced the OSPAR Database on Offshore renewable energy developments (known as the ‘Offshore windfarm database’ until 2014), which constitutes an inventory of all planned (under application), authorised, refused, operational, out of service and decommissioned installations under the jurisdiction of the OSPAR Contracting Parties.
Full Report
The OSPAR Database on Offshore Renewable Energy Developments provides to the public information, for each offshore installation, regarding (1) its name, (2) location, (3) distance from the coast, (4) device type, (5) number of devices, (6) current status, (7) capacity, (8) foundations type, (9) water depth, (10) height, (11) environmental impact information and (12) additional remarks. In order to better understand the terminology used, the Explanatory Notes at Annex 1 describe the terms used and the way in which Contracting Parties should report their data by adhering to this terminology.
The database includes Shapefiles of locations of installations in the OSPAR Maritime Area. These also reflect installations at the application stage in order to ensure the transparency of current authorisation processes in Contracting Parties.
Details of the location and status of offshore renewable energy developments in the OSPAR region in 2016. Available via https://odims.ospar.org/layers/geonode:ospar_offshore_renewables_2016_01_001