The influence of international, EU, national and regional legislation in the development of offshore wind farms. The case of Galicia (Spain)

Resumo

Despite the high wind potential of waters surrounding the Spanish coasts –and, especially the region of Galicia– there are numerous technical-economic, social and legal obstacles that have led to the stagnation in the development of offshore wind farms, mainly , the depth of Spanish marine waters, the high costs of these clean technologies, a lack of economic supporting mechanisms, a long and complex authorization procedure as well as clashes with other uses and activities and potential threats to the conservation of biodiversity and the protection of the marine environment. In the first place, in order to contextualize and the topic, this doctoral thesis analyzes the different legal regimes applicable to the development of offshore wind energy at global (taking China and the United States as a case study) and European level, with a special focus on: i) authorization procedures, ii) economic supporting mechanisms and iii) marine spatial planning. This legal study is accompanied by a meteorological analysis as well as a mapping of those locations where the wind resource is higher in both present and future scenarios. The aim of this multidisciplinary research is to identify those locations where it is advisable to install these devices -both from a meteorological-technical and legal point of view-. Secondly, this doctoral thesis focuses on the Spanish domestic legal system, conducting a legal-comparative study with the different regulations established in those European countries leading the development of offshore wind energy in order to extract regulatory tools aimed at streamlining the authorization procedure for the installation of offshore wind farms in Spanish waters. Likewise, the regulation of the environmental impact assessment and its application to the installation of offshore wind farms in Spain has also being studied with the aim of proposing ideas for improvement. Thirdly, this research work studies the influence of Royal Decree 363/2017 –which transposes the Directive on maritime spatial planning into Spanish domestic law– in the development of offshore wind farms and its main challenges, especially, in relation to the integration between maritime spatial plans, marine strategies and terrestrial (coastal) management plans. A comparison with the Portuguese legal regime on maritime spatial planning –more developed and advanced than the Spanish one– has been conducted in order to extract ideas with the aim of facilitating the development of marine renewable energies. Finally, after analyzing international, EU, national and regional sectoral regulations of those different interests that are projected in the marine environment and can be affected by the implementation of offshore wind farms, a planning effort focused on the region of Galicia is conducted by identifying and mapping the best locations to install offshore wind farms under a meteorological, technical and legal point of view. The main results highlight the need to: i) establish a one-stop-shop or an electronic single window system through which a collegiate body –composed of representatives of both the state and autonomous regions affected by the installation– is established; ii) introduce the scoping phase as a mandatory step both in the simplified and the ordinary environmental impact assessments in order to avoid further delays in proceeding and ensure an early involvement of the public affected by the installation of offshore wind farms; iii) introduce in Royal Decree 363/2017 a detailed compensation system in order to compensate those sea users whose activities and livelihoods may be displaced by the a new use (such as the development of offshore wind farms); iv) establish specific coordination mechanisms between maritime spatial plans and marine strategies and between maritime spatial plans and coastal (terrestrial) management plans, as well as improve the participation of the coastal autonomous regions in the process of elaborating maritime spatial plans. v) Regarding the planning effort in which the region of Galicia has been taken as a case study, despite the fact that the largest wind power density has been identified in the extreme northwest, the high number of legally protected interests that may be affected by such facilities (e.g. marine reserves, special protection areas for birds, wetlands) suggest that it could be advisable to consider other sites identified in the northeastern corner of Galicia or the south of the Vigo estuary, in spite of their lower wind potential.