European Union Policy on Marine Renewable Energy

Running head: EUROPEAN UNION POLICY ON MARINE RENEWABLE ENERGY
European Union Policy on Marine Renewable Energy
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EUROPEAN UNION POLICY ON MARINE RENEWABLE ENERGY 1
European Union Policy on Marine Renewable Energy
The EU (European Union) has been at the forefront of developing ocean energy
technology in its blue energy policy execution all over the European Union nations. It has
already hosted approximately 45% of the developers of wave energy and 50% of tidal energy.
The policy has seen the region deploy majority of the ocean energy infrastructure like test
centers for ocean energy and deployment sites all over European waters. Towards its support for
the development and growth of the ocean energy industry, the European commission by 2014
launched the blue energy communication policy1. The commission also set up a framework to
develop an uptake of technologies of ocean energy by 20202. The framework involves laying an
implementation plan of two phases that was initiated by the creation of a forum for ocean energy.
The forum involved a platform that brought together, actors and stakeholders of ocean energy to
deliberate on major issues in the sector and identify possible solutions. The primary output of
the forum involves feeding the development of strategic roadmap that defined targets for
developing the energy industry and a realistic timeframe for its execution. From 2017-2020 the
second phase of this action plan was expected to foresee the EII (European industrial initiative)
creation for ocean energy as implemented by the other renewable energy sectors like wind3.
1 Qiu, Wanfei, and Peter JS Jones. "The emerging policy landscape for marine spatial planning in
Europe." Marine Policy 39 (2013): 182-190.
2 Alexander, Karen A., Ron Janssen, Gustavo Arciniegas, Timothy G. O'Higgins, Tessa
Eikelboom, and Thomas A. Wilding. "Interactive marine spatial planning: siting tidal energy
arrays around the Mull of Kintyre." PLoS One 7, no. 1 (2012): e30031.
3 Meiner, Andrus. "Integrated maritime policy for the European Union—consolidating coastal
and marine information to support maritime spatial planning." Journal of Coastal
Conservation 14, no. 1 (2010): 1-11.

EUROPEAN UNION POLICY ON MARINE RENEWABLE ENERGY 2
The commission’s policy presents three core objectives on energy supply such as
sustainability, security and the competitiveness of EU in the international market. The ocean
energy sector that is fast-growing in the region could help EU member countries to achieve the
targets of carbon and greenhouse gases of 20% in 2020 or (80-95) % in 20504. Europe has been
leading in ocean energy industry since 1980s with the private sector investing substantially in the
sector. The plan began with key contributions by funding research in technologies of renewable
energy. After reaching more than 10 megawatts from the sector, the capacity of Europe has been
noted to be double that achieved by China of 4.5 megawatts5. Canada and South Korea have each
0.25 megawatts6. The capacity in Europe is growing fast from the 4.2 megawatts four years ago7.
At the moment the new approved projects in the whole plan have over 20 megawatts that await
installation8. The EU-OEA (European union-ocean energy association) which has brought all
industry players in the sector together has a strong belief that the generation of 100 megawatts in
2050 is realistic9.
The ocean energy policy is a green and sustainable renewable energy source plan whose
impact is reducing climatic change owing to the increased release of carbon and other
4 Portman, Michelle. "Involving the public in the impact assessment of offshore renewable
energy facilities." Marine Policy 33, no. 2 (2009): 332-338.
5 Busch, Malte, Andreas Kannen, Stefan Garthe, and Mark Jessopp. "Consequences of a
cumulative perspective on marine environmental impacts: offshore wind farming and seabirds at
North Sea scale in context of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive." Ocean & Coastal
Management 71 (2013): 213-224.
6 Freire-Gibb, Lucio Carlos, Rebecca Koss, Piotr Margonski, and Nadia Papadopoulou.
"Governance strengths and weaknesses to implement the marine strategy framework directive in
European waters." Marine Policy 44 (2014): 172-178.
7 Ounanian, Kristen, Alyne Delaney, Jesper Raakjær, and Paulina Ramirez-Monsalve. "On
unequal footing: stakeholder perspectives on the marine strategy framework directive as a
mechanism of the ecosystem-based approach to marine management." Marine Policy 36, no. 3
(2012): 658-666.
8 Qiu, and Peter, 182-190.
9 Alexander, Ron Janssen, Timothy, Tessa and Thomas, 30031.