Publications

On January 24th, 2023, a virtual workshop was held to discuss the results of the UNITED Ocean Multi-Use Pilots and engage in interactive discussions with 45 fellow planners, regulators, and decision-makers. The session aimed to share knowledge and experiences and provide advice on renewable energy planning processes and guidelines. Key outcomes and findings were presented by the leaders of the UNITED Ocean Multi-Use Pilots. Whereas EU Member States in majority are in favor of stimulating multi-use of the ocean, there are some (institutional) hinderances to the development of multi-use such as the lack of access to proper insurance, cumbersome licensing procedures, uncertainty of the decommissioning phase and lack of clear rules for multi-use.

Download the event summary report and presentations to learn more about what was discussed and what are the findings of this event:

Online session Policy Summary Report
Agenda Multi-Use Policy Session
Session Intro Presentation
Belgian Pilot Presentation
Danish Pilot Presentation
German Pilot Presentation
Dutch Pilot Presentation

The international UNITED workshop in Ghent brought together all pilot leaders and respective stakeholders to discuss the legal and insurance issues for multiple use (MU) of marine space. A draft report of D6.2 (Case specific report on legal aspects and insurance issues of MU) was distributed before the workshop, and participants were asked to provide comments if necessary. The central question of the workshop was why the implementation of MU at sea is so difficult, with a focus on (1) legal frameworks needed to develop MU projects and on (2) hurdles in insurance systems. For each pilot country, we focused on the MSP process and further discussed the (lack of) legal or regulatory framework for MU projects. Furthermore, the variables determining the necessity or absence of additional insurance to cover MU risk were discussed, as well as insurance policy clauses of utmost importance in the MU context. Finally, it was proposed which measures could be taken at different levels to restrain expenditure for insurance.

Discussion points:

• Legal and policy context of MU governance in pilots (MSP)
• Concessions, permits and access: pilot practice and law
• Insurance issues in a MU context
• Natura2000 and nature restoration via MU

During the workshop at Ghent University (Belgium), all pilot studies were discussed: is MU possible? Is it stimulated? What are the main insurance issues? We learned that all countries are open to MU (as a principle), but it is difficult to bring in practice as different activities are regulated by different authorities within the pilot countries. The lack of tradition to integrate procedures and the sometimes very different timeframes and spatial impact of activities is an important reason why MU is so difficult to realise. During the workshop, a governance analysis framework was discussed in which two governance groups were distinguished; the more top-down oriented pilot countries and the more bottom-up oriented pilot countries. Both models can lead to mu, however, a certain flexibility seems a prerequisite for successful MU. Furthermore, it seems that cultural differences and historical use play an important role in regulatory frameworks. The latter was also found to be true for insurance. Specifically, the level of trust between MU partners differed per pilot and resulted in different insurance needs between the partners.
There are different models  to integrate activities  in an offshore MU context with legal and insurance perspectives. Some integration on the level of permitting and tendering will greatly benefit the development of MU projects both from a legal and insurance point of view This can be done in both top down and bottom up governance systems, as long as there is enough room for flexibility. We see important steps forward with integrating food production in wind farms.
 
During the workshop there were several suggestions to adapt the governance analyses framework. This and the finalization of D6.2 will be done over the coming months.

The third UNITED public training workshop “Aquaculture-Multi-use offshore: Technology Transfer was the perfect combination between Research and Technology innovations!

The first part of the event provided some background information on the UNITED project and was followed by presentations of three pilot projects (Greece, Belgium and Germany) that each face biofouling issues. Each presenter provided an update on the current status of their pilot and the approaches in place to tackle these issues. 

The second part was an opportunity for three companies to share their innovative solutions to prevent fouling on marine structures. The solutions introduced can provide long-term sustainable remediation systems that do not harm the environment.

In between and after both sessions, there was great engagement with the attendees, whose questions allowed for an active conversation among the panelists, particularly on the extent of biofouling on the pilots’ structures and the transferability, scalability and impacts of the solutions implemented.

Many thanks to all the participants for their contributions and making this event yet another success of UNITED!

 On the 14 of November the German Pilot case gathered members of the offshore wind energy sector, scientists, members of planning offices, and decision makers (regional and EU level) in a two-hour online workshop to discuss the following aspects of Multi-Use of marine space:

• What could commercialisation of offshore research projects look like? Which findings from the German EU pilot plant can be transferred to other regions?
• What are possible socio-economic impacts that could result from a multiple use of aquaculture and offshore wind power, e.g. securing existing and creating new jobs, attracting industry?
• To what extent does multiple use of offshore areas influence the acceptance of maritime activities? 

The participatory format of the workshop allowed participants to identify relevant impacts concerning economic, social and roll-out issues. Different possible impacts of a hypothetical multi-use project were discussed and weighted. This weighting process will be analyzed and be a important part for further work in UNITED.  Discussions also picked up issues of the technical readiness of the German pilot and how feasible this attempt of offshore wind energy in combination with aquaculture can be. 

“If this project shows that multi-use is possible, we can create more easily the conditions for legislations to be more active in this field”

Results of this workshop will be further used in the UNITED workshop in various work packages.

On 30^th November 2022 Julia F. Chozas from the Danish Pilot participated in a community event in Den Haag (Netherlands) as part of the Communities of Practices (CoPs) within the eMSP NBSR project. We actively discussed about the multi-use of wind energy and alternative forms of energy in the North and Baltic Sea.

The activities, challenges and learnings of the Danish Pilot were described; and very interesting discussions emerged from the fantastic opportunity of combining offshore wind and tourism; and the cooperative approach behind wind farms. Being the second presentation of the day, it was referred to during the whole seminar.

This highly interactive online training workshop raised the awareness and increased the knowledge on multi-use, for private or public stakeholders involved in the maritime sector. For 2.5 hours, pilots of the UNITED project shared their two years of experience dealing with issues related to the measurement of the environmental parameters and the integration of these parameters within the UNITED assessment framework. 

After the general presentation of the UNITED project, the assessment framework was introduced and followed by the lesson learnt in three Pilots (Greece, Germany, Belgium). The workshop was concluded by active discussions with the participants, on environmental impact views and ways to measure these impacts. 

Many thanks to all the participants for their contributions. We had very fruitful discussions with stakeholders from different UNITED pilot sites. One resulting statement of the workshop: The impact assessment of multi-use development should be done in comparison to the development of two single uses!

The first UNITED public training workshop “Offshore Platform Operation, Safety and Logistics within the context of multi-use” was successfull. In the first part sixty attendees from France, Sweden, Tanzania and 15 other countries joined the workshop and round about thirty discussed about the topic the second session. The workshop  contributes to the capacity building of professionals working in offshore operations and logistics and reduces risks for the ongoing and future development of ocean multi-use solutions. The key takeaway from the first part of the workshop - multi-use may result in new risks - while new standards and procedures may also be needed, it is important not to create the red table. Ensuring understanding between users, and having some sort of flexibility will play an important role! Thanks to everyone who participated and for all the interesting questions we received via SLIDO!

The first UNITED webinar took place on 3 June 2020. The webinar, which lasted 3 hours, introduced the project to the wider audience and it initiated a broader discussion about the topic of multi-use. Over 90 attendees had an opportunity to learn about the ongoing project activities, its pilots, and involved partners. Some of the initial project results were verified via an interactive live poll session. The initial review of barriers to multi-use conducted in UNITED highlighted that not only Technological Readiness Level is important as an indicator for multi-use development progress, but also Social, Commercial & Legal Readiness Level. The live poll showed that local jobs and local seafood sources are some of the main expected benefits of the multi-use. The Q&A with speakers took place via the GoToWebinar chat and the results can be seen here. The UNITED sister project MUSICA: Multiple-use-of Space for Island Clean Autonomy was also be presented, and the presentation has been published here.

Downloads:
The UNITED Project and Multi-Use (by Ghada El Serafy)
PRESENTATION MUSICA project DALTON
PRESENTATION DANISH PILOT SORENSEN
PRESENTATION CHALLENGES RISKS AND BARRIERS VAN DEN BURG
PRESENTATION BELGIAN PILOT NEVEJAN

MENTIMETER Report