Abstract
In recent years the European Union has firmly committed itself to energy from oceans as a means of decarbonising the European energy system. Despite a favourable political landscape, the development of offshorerenewables still faces economic and technological barriers, which are coupled with the inherent difficulties of anincreasingly industrialised marine environment, such as complex evolving regulation, lack of knowledge re-garding the possible environmental impact of such an activity, as well as spatial conflicts with other traditionaland emerging uses. Most of the coastal Member States have adopted Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) as afundamental tool for integrated and sustainable management of human activities in the marine environment.MSP is capable of definitively driving the use of offshore renewable facilities. Its proper application supportsdecision making, simplifies and accelerates the process of obtaining permits, improves compatibility of uses,integrates stakeholders in planning, prevents environmental deterioration of sensitive areas, enhances theavailability of information and promotes cross-border co-operation. This paper aims to evaluate the influence ofmaritime spatial planning processes on the advance of blue energy within the framework of the European Union.The results show positive relationships between MSP and the development of offshore renewable energy incountries such as Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.