European Maritime Day Workshop: How to plan and deploy nature friendly offshore wind

The European Maritime Day (EMD 2023) is an annual two-day event organised by the European Commission which brings together stakeholders from Europe’s maritime community. From 24-25 May 2023 in Brest, France, more than 1000 participants representing public authorities, European and international organisations, NGOs, and academia came together to discuss the marine environment and a sustainable blue economy.

The Renewables Grid Initiative and Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux (LPO/BirdLife International France) co-hosted a workshop at the European Maritime Days on 25 May. Through a multi-stakeholder discussion, they addressed how offshore wind can be sited and deployed in a nature-friendly way, from the implementation of ecosystem-based Maritime Spatial Plans to the application of sensitivity maps and the design of wind infrastructure. Furthermore, the workshop addressed the need for transboundary and sea basin cooperation, alongside the assessment and mitigation of cumulative impacts, to simultaneously achieve offshore wind energy and nature protection and restoration targets.

Speakers from VASAB Secretariat, NABU/BirdLife and Ørsted outlined the concrete contributions from their organisations and discussed current challenges and opportunities in an interactive panel, with plenty of time for audience questions.

RGI at European Commission Exhibition Stand

Colleagues from RGI were also present at the European stand in the exhibition hall during the European Maritime Day. From 16:30-18:00 on 24 May, RGI colleagues informed participants about RGI’s offshore work and the Offshore Coalition for Energy and Nature.

Presence in Additional Workshops

RGI’s Dení Aguilar Bellamy (Coordinator – Offshore Energy and Nature) spoke in the workshop ‘EU projects accelerating the energy transition’ led by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) on May 25 from 10:30-11:45. In this workshop, various EU projects funded by CINEA presented their contributions to delivering the European Green Deal objectives and those of the Fitfor55 package, linked to cleaning our energy systems, greening Port operations, growing cutting-edge clean technological innovation for offshore renewables while taking into account public policies and environmental impacts.