Guidelines on Strategic Environmental Assessment
R+D project
Strategic environmental assessments and strategic environmental monitoring for offshore wind farms
In cooperation with: University of Lueneburg – Department of Public and Environmental Law
and BioConsult SH
Running time: July 2004 till August 2006
In order to offer a considerable contribution to climate protection, to the continued saving of finite resources and to limit the dependancy on the imports of foreign energy, the Federal Government of Germany aims to develop the widespread use of wind energy in its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) under specific consideration of environmentally friendly methods. The SEA-Directive from 27 June 2001 (2001/42/EC) concerning the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment, offers an appropriate instrument to secure high standards of environmental protection at an early stage and in a wide geographic area. The SEA-Directive was transferred into German law by the Act introducing Strategic Environmental Assessment (Gesetz zur Einführung einer Strategischen Umweltprüfung) of 26.5.2005. According to German law, SEA becomes an integral part of the administrative approval procedure of certain plans and programmes. Compared with other landuse planning instruments, the advantage of SEA is that not only previous contaminations or cumulative effects but also potential planning alternatives can be considered both earlier and on a wider scale. The Department of Public Law at the University of Lueneburg has been working in cooperation with two private institutions, “OECOS GmbH” “BioConsultSH”, on a guidance paper for the implementation of SEAs in Offshore Wind Energy Usage since July 2004. The Research and Development Project „Strategic Environmental Assessment and Strategic Environmental Monitoring for Offshore Wind Energy Parks” is based on current scientific literature.
Besides legal discussions, public participation procedures and research methods for SEA-planning, the main focus of the project includes prominent areas of marine ecology. The comparison of planning requirements and their instrumentation in German EEZ with those of other states is vital in this research. In particular of outmost interest, is information delivered by neighbouring states that already have implemented SEA tools. The research project takes into consideration that spatial planning (Raumordnung) in the EEZ was initiated in spring of 2005 by the Federal Agency for Shipping and Hydrography (Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie) in Hamburg. In two scoping-conferences (for the North and the Baltic Sea each) the framework of the SEA-report was defined. In continuation of this, the establishment of suitabillity areas (Eignungsgebiete) for offshore- windenergy usage has been furthered. The plan dedication of large scaled sea areas differs greatly from the dedication of similar terrestrial areas and has to be accepted as a long-term process.
The research report covers the development of the basics for the SEA in the German EEZ as well as recommendations for its implementation. The content of the report follows the various steps of SEA, starting with the screening and ending with the measures for the minimization and compensation of negative effects caused by offshore wind-energy parks. In each step the report contains three elements: legal-, planning- and biological issues.
Contact person: Dr. Karsten Runge, Jens Nommel