The Legal Regime of Generation Facilities Functioning Based on the Offshore Wind Power Industry (Experience of Foreign States)

The coming decade is of great importance for meeting the objectives of the Paris Agreement provisions on the achievement of global zero emissions by 2050. The key scientific international organizations, e.g., the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the Ocean Renewable Energy Action Coalition (OREAC) and others have come to the conclusion that it is the offshore wind energy industry that is able to solve the arising tasks by satisfying the current global electricity demand by 18 times. With reference to Russia, one can surely state that the offshore wind energy industry has enormous technical potential of 13.373 GW in its marine territories and water areas. Nevertheless, the modern legislative framework of the Russian Federation is unable to ensure qualitative progress in the development of this renewable energy type. The legal regime of generating facilities functioning based on the offshore wind energy industry is an integral part of the legal regulation of public relations in offshore WPPs. In this respect, the presented article proposes a study of the mentioned aspect taking into account the experience of foreign states that are leaders in the construction and exploitation of offshore WPPs, namely, Germany and Great Britain.

Keywords

energy law, energy law of foreign states, renewable energy sources, wind energy industry, offshore wind energy, offshore WPPs, offshore WDPPs.

Received

01.12.2021

Publication date

20.12.2021

Number of characters

17992

Cite Download pdf

GOST	Kologermanskaya E. The Legal Regime of Generation Facilities Functioning Based on the Offshore Wind Power Industry (Experience of Foreign States) // Energy law forum – 2021. – Issue 4 C. 114-119 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://mlcjournal.ru/S231243500022491-8-1 (circulation date: 29.04.2024). DOI: 10.18572/2410-4396-2021-4-114-119
MLA	Kologermanskaya, Ekaterina M. "The Legal Regime of Generation Facilities Functioning Based on the Offshore Wind Power Industry (Experience of Foreign States)." Energy law forum 4 (2021):114-119. DOI: 10.18572/2410-4396-2021-4-114-119
APA	Kologermanskaya E. (2021). The Legal Regime of Generation Facilities Functioning Based on the Offshore Wind Power Industry (Experience of Foreign States). Energy law forum (4), pp.114-119 DOI: 10.18572/2410-4396-2021-4-114-119


1	2021 signifies the beginning of an important decade putting the world community on the track for the achievement of global net-zero emissions by 2050 established in accordance with the Paris Agreement.
2	Regardless of the fact that a large number of research aimed at the search of the solution to the set tasks has been carried out from the adoption of this international document, priority has been currently given to the offshore wind energy industry.
3	The offshore wind energy industry acts as the main technology for the delivery of largescale, affordable and zero-carbon energy, but the sea potential is now practically unexploited as the existing offshore WDPPs generate as little as 35 GW [1]. At the same time, based on an assessment of the World Bank, the global potential of fixed and floating offshore winddriven power plants is about 71,000 GW [2].
4	In general, the advantages of the offshore wind energy industry are of great importance in various spheres of life. Thus, the offshore wind energy industry has achieved significant cost reduction for the last decade with the levelized cost of energy dropping by almost two thirds making it competitive in terms of price with fossil fuel at energy markets in Europe and China [3].
5	A life cycle analysis also shows that the energy payback period of offshore wind power plants is short, especially compared to generation based on fossil fuel [4].
6	Taking into account the enormous technical potential (i.e., the evaluation of the quantity of technically feasible generating capacities considering only the wind speed and the water depth) of the offshore wind energy industry in the Russian Federation, namely 13.373 GW [5], there is a need for the development of the state legal regulation of this energy industry.
7	An integral part of rapid development of the offshore wind energy industry is comprehensive understanding of technical issues related to offshore wind turbines stimulating the current research and development programs [6]¹.
8	The presented article proposes to review the legal regime of electricity generating wind power plants functioning based on the offshore wind energy industry taking into account the experience of foreign states that are leaders in this energy sector, namely, Germany and Great Britain.
9	It is worth noting that “features of the legal regime of power facilities cover the whole life cycle of such facilities including design, construction, exploitation, update, reconstruction, repair and decommissioning” [7].
10	However, construction planning, permit obtainment and grid connection are elements that are also of importance for the establishment of the content of the legal regime of power facilities.
11	Thus, the following basic aspects of the legal regime of energy generating facilities can
12	¹ Xiaoni Wu, YuHuYeLi, Jian Yang, Lei Duan, Tongguang Wang, Thomas Adcock, Zhiyu Jiang, Zhen Gao, Zhiliang Lin, Alistair Borthwick, Shijun Liao. Foundations of offshore wind turbines: A review // Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 104 (2019) 379–393.
13	be singled out following an analysis of the main legal provisions of the selected states regulating the reviewed public relations sphere: (1) definitive provisions acting as the basis for the content of the legal regime of power facilities.
14	Taking into account that the selected states belong to different legal families, legal acts are of a different structure and content, the structure of the legal provision also varies.
15	Thus, pursuant to Clause 11, Paragraph 3 of the Act on Development and Promotion of Wind Energy on Sea (Gesetz zur Entwicklung und Förderung der Windenergie auf See (Windenergie-auf-See-Gesetz WindSeeG): “A marine wind-driven power plant is any power plant for generation of power from wind energy set up at sea at least three nautical miles away from the coastline of the Federal Republic of Germany from the seaward; the coastline is shown on map No. 2920 The German Coast of the North Sea and the Adjacent Waters, 1994, XII, and on map No. 2921 The German Coast of the Baltic Sea and the Adjacent Waters, 1994, XII, the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency, scale of 1:375,000, one coastline is shown” [8].
16	Within the context of the laws of Great Britain, namely, the Energy Act 2013, “offshore installation” means any installation which is intended for underwater exploitation of mineral resources or exploration with a view to such exploitation”. At the same time, “offshore” generating station is a generating station that is: (a) in waters in or adjacent to England or Wales up to the seaward limits of the territorial sea, or (b) in a Renewable Energy Zone, except any part of a Renewable Energy Zone in relation to which the Scottish Ministers have functions” [10] based on Section 15 of the Planning Act 2008.
17	Thus, the following attributes of reviewed generating facilities can be singled out: installation used for generation and production of electric energy based on renewable energy sources such as: wind, waves, tides; location of an installation in the maritime zone (territorial sea and exclusive economic zone).

Readers community rating: votes 0

1. What if One of the Key Solutions to Fighting Climate Change Was in Our Ocean? URL: https://gwec.net/offshore-wind/.

2. Global Offshore Wind Technical Potential. URL: https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0037787.

3. BNEF Executive Factbook. Power, Transport, Buildings and Industry, Commodities, Food and Agriculture, Capital / J. Moore, N. Bullard. BloombergNEF, 2021. 100 s. URL: https://assets.bbhub.io/professional/ sites/24/BNEF-2021-Executive-Factbook.pdf.

4. Wind Energy FAQs: Carbon and GHG Payback Period // Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. URL: https://www.offshorewindadvisory.com/faqs-ghg-payback/.

5. Offshore Wind Technical Potential in Russia. URL: https://gwec.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Russia_ Offshore-Wind-Technical-Potential_GWEC-OREAC.pdf.

6. Xiaoni Wu. Foundations of Offshore Wind Turbines: A Review / Xiaoni Wu, YuHuYeLi, Jian Yang [et al.] // Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 2019. Vol. 104. P. 379-393.

7. Romanova V.V. Energy Law : textbook for training of top qualification personnel / V.V. Romanova. Moscow : Lawyer, 2021. 286 p.

8. Gesetz zur Entwicklung und Förderung der Windenergie auf See (Windenergie-auf-See-Gesetz WindSeeG). § 3 Begriffsbestimmungen. URL: http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/windseeg/ 3.html.

9. Energy Act 2013. 2013 Chapter 32. URL: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2013/32.

10. Planning Act 2008. 2008 Chapter 29. URL: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2008/29.

11. Offshore Wind Technical Potential. Analysis And Maps. URL: https://esmap.org/esmap_offshorewind_techpotential_analysis_maps.

12. Castro-Santos L. Floating Offshore Wind Farms / L. Castro-Santos, V. Diaz-Casas. Springer International Publishing, 2016. 193 p.

13. Miceli F. Offshore Wind Turbines Foundation Types / F. Miceli. 2012. URL: http://www.windfarmbop.com/ tag/monopile/.

14. URL: https://www.4coffshore.com/offshorewind/.

15. Offshore Electricity Transmission (OFTO). URL: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/energy-policy-and-regulation/ policy-and-regulatory-programmes/offshore-electricity-transmission-ofto.

16. Offshore Wind Worldwide. Regulatory Framework in Selected Countries / contributing editor C. Knütel. World Forum Offshore Wind. Hogan Loves, 2020. 192 p.

17. URL: https://www.renewableuk.com/page/HealthSafety.

18. Guidance Offshore Renewable Energy Installations: Impact on Shipping. Maritime and Coastguard Agency, 2012. URL: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/offshore-renewable-energy-installations-impact-on-shipping.

19. Offshore Wind. URL: https://orsted.co.uk/energy-solutions/offshore-wind.

20. Scholz U. Electricity Regulation in Germany: Overview / U. Scholz, H. Wessling. URL: https://uk.practicallaw. thomsonreuters.com/5-524-0808?transitionType=Default&contextData=(sc.Default)&firstPage=true.