Social and Policy Aspects of Offshore Renewable Energy

Ocean renewable energy, focusing on offshore wind, wave and tidal, is an emerging global sector that is making a growing contribution to the decarbonization of power production. As the challenge to produce greener and decarbonized forms of electricity gather pace, the chapter explores the role offshore wind, wave and tidal as a rapidly developing sector in the context of policy and societal considerations. The policy aspects are explored through the lens of the blue economy as an overarching governance mechanism and the main instrument to implement it, marine spatial planning. The societal elements of ORE are explored via the lens of the just transition, a concept that is gaining policy traction as a defining principle of the energy and climate transition. The unique oceanic and coastal nature of offshore wind, wave and tidal is unpacked in the context of a just transition, with a synopsis of the performance these sectors in providing employment and the role of revitalizing coastal communities. A European and a UK focus is taken in the chapter from the view of a rapidly growing and increasingly important energy sub-sector.