Abstract
The Scottish Government believes that Scotland can lead the world in the development and deployment of renewable energy technologies. Our offshore potential is enormous – with an estimated 206 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind, wave and tidal resource in Scottish waters; almost 40% of the UK total. These resources will play a major part in meeting our ambitious renewable electricity target – 80% of gross Scottish consumption by 2020.
As we move into a new era of energy generation, and as the shift from finite fossil fuels accelerates towards permanence, we have to harness more and more of our renewable energy resources. We must start to tap into our dynamic marine environment, including our offshore wind energy potential, to provide us with the power we need for our homes, businesses and to drive our economy forward.
The Scottish Government has used a marine planning approach to develop Blue Seas Green Energy – A Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind in Scottish Territorial Waters (the Plan). This process was started through the application of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to produce a draft Plan. The SEA Environmental Report and draft Plan were consulted upon before Habitats Regulations Appraisal (HRA) and Socio-economic Assessment were applied to inform the contents of the final Plan.
Consultation has been a key element in the development of the Plan. The Scottish Government has sought to build the views of statutory, sectoral, regional, voluntary and other bodies as well as individuals into the planning process. The Plan is based on current knowledge and views but will be subject to monitoring, research and consultation to enable an informed Plan review. The Scottish Government will continue to adopt marine planning approaches in future sectoral development through the use of scoping tools such as the Marine Resource System (MaRS), and the application of marine planning techniques such as Regional Locational Guidance (RLG).
Scottish Ministers have adopted the Plan. A Post-Adoption Statement (PAS) has been produced which details how the assessment outputs and the consultation analysis have been taken into account in the final Plan.
"Part B - Post Adoption Statement" can be found here.