Offshore wind energy - draft updated Sectoral Marine Plan 2025: consultation

Plan Development Process

The draft updated SMP-OWE has been developed to deliver an integrated planning framework for both the ScotWind and INTOG leasing rounds alongside consideration of additional capacity for T&D projects. It brings together the assessment of environmental, social and economic impacts into one sustainability appraisal that assesses the potential impacts and benefits of the ScotWind and INTOG POs and the T&D capacity in an integrated way. It has been developed in line with the Scottish Government’s established process for developing sectoral offshore energy plans.

The plan development process is outlined below, including a brief overview of work completed to date and further steps to be undertaken following the consultation on this draft updated Plan and its associated impact assessments.

ScotWind Sites

This draft updated Plan presents an updated planning framework for ScotWind sites as a result of the IPR process established in the SMP-OWE (2020). Scottish Ministers concluded, as part of the IPR, that the SMP-OWE (2020) needed to be updated and re-assessed following the ScotWind leasing award by CES of up to 27.6 GW of generation capacity. Therefore, the development of the draft updated SMP-OWE is a continuation of the previously established sectoral marine planning process. As part of the IPR the best available information, at time of review, has been incorporated into the re-assessment of impacts on the environment and on other marine users and into consideration of the mitigation and management required to support the ambitious scale of development. The draft updated SMP-OWE also incorporates additional spatial and technological detail that has become available following ScotWind leasing.

The draft updated SMP-OWE follows on from the following previous key stages of plan development:

1. Opportunity and Constraint Analysis – Iteration 1

2. Opportunity and Constraint Analysis – Iteration 2 – Single Issue Constraint Analysis

3. Scoping Consultation

4. Opportunity and Constraint Analysis – Iteration 3

5. Identification of Draft Plan Options

6. Assessment of Draft Plan Options

7. Consultation on Draft Plan Options

8. Finalisation and adoption of the SMP-OWE (2020)

9. CES ScotWind Leasing Round (2021)

10. CES ScotWind Clearance Leasing

More detail on stages one through eight can be found in the SMP-OWE (2020) and its accompanying Regional Locational Guidance (RLG) (2020). Additional detail on stages nine and ten is available through Crown Estate Scotland.

INTOG Sites

This draft updated SMP-OWE is the next step in the sectoral planning process for INTOG projects. It builds on the opportunity and constraint analysis that was undertaken to identify broad AoS and Areas of Exclusion, which was made available for public comment and consultation in 2021. The results of this consultation were set out in the INTOG Initial Plan Framework alongside refinements of the AoS.

Due to the ageing infrastructure in the North Sea, and to maximise the decarbonisation of oil and gas platforms and make INTOG projects economically viable, the INTOG planning and leasing processes were placed on an accelerated timeline. To address these time constraints, the INTOG planning process is overlapping with the CES leasing process, which allowed CES to offer applicants a form of exclusivity for an area of seabed earlier in the process.

The proposed OAs for INTOG included and assessed in this draft updated SMP-OWE have been identified via outcomes of the CES INTOG leasing round. Therefore, they represent the specific locations that have been granted CES EAs, all of which sit within the AoS set out in the INTOG IPF.

Once the updated SMP-OWE has been adopted, any INTOG projects included in the final updated SMP-OWE that have EAs with CES will be expected to be able to seek to transfer these to Option Agreements. In the interim, CES confirmed a temporary process for projects that have been granted a section 36 consent, which is outlined in their March 2024 update.

Test and Demonstration Projects

This draft updated Plan includes a high-level consideration of providing additional T&D capacity of up to 1GW divided equally across the five Scottish regions. Offshore wind technology continues to develop at pace. As such there is likely to be demand for access to seabed on which to test that technology – however it is currently unclear as to the scale, timing and location of such demand. The inclusion of consideration for T&D aids in future-proofing the draft updated Plan in order to avoid further iterations. It does not constitute a new seabed leasing round but recognises that there may be a need for additional testing for new and emerging technologies on an ad hoc basis to be considered by CES based on levels of demand. A high-level assessment of the impact of these projects has been undertaken as part of the development of this draft updated SMP-OWE. CES will develop an appropriate process for assessing and awarding seabed agreements for ad-hoc T&D purposes. Such agreements will need to satisfy the parameters identified below, be awarded following a robust application and assessment process (administered by CES) and be subject to appropriate and proportionate contractual terms.

Assessment of Impact

In order to understand the sustainability of the draft updated SMP-OWE, a sustainability appraisal has been undertaken. Individual assessments have been prepared in line with the relevant legislation. The appraisal comprises the following elements:

• Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)
  • The SEA assesses the impact of the plan on the environment identifying effects and potential mitigation measures.
• Social and Economic Impact Assessment (SEIA)
  • The SEIA assesses the impact of the plan on other marine sectors and the lives and circumstances of people, their families and their communities.
• Habitats Regulations Appraisal (HRA)
  • The HRA assesses the impact of the plan on protected European sites including Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Special Protection Areas (SPAs).
• Nature Conservation Marine Protected Area (NCMPA) Assessment
  • The NCMPA assessment assesses the impact of the plan on Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas.
• Focused Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA)
  • The focused BRIA assesses impacts to regulatory frameworks. It provides a gap analysis to highlight the cross-consideration of impacts between the SEIA and BRIA.
• Island Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA)
  • The ICIA identifies and describes areas where the plan may have an effect on an island community which is likely to be significantly different from its effect on other communities (including other island communities).

At the stage of public consultation and publication of this draft updated SMP-OWE, and in line with relevant statutory processes, the following assessment reports have been prepared and published:

• SEA Environmental Report (ER)
• Full SEIA Report
• HRA Appropriate Assessment Information Report (AAIR)
• Full NCMPA Assessment Report
• Partial BRIA
• Partial ICIA

In addition, a Sustainability Appraisal Report has been published to summarise the full reports (SEA ER, SEIA, HRA AAIR, and NCMPA Assessment) and aid in understanding of these technical documents. Regional Locational Guidance (RLG) has also been prepared and published, outlining the baseline data and information used in the planning and assessment process.

Role of the Steering Group

The development of the draft updated SMP-OWE has been supported by a cross-sectoral Steering Group. The role of the Steering Group is to provide advice on the assessment of potential impacts of the draft updated Plan. This includes advising on the approach to assessing impacts, the submission of evidence for consideration in the assessment process and the review of assessment outcomes. The membership of the Steering Group can be found in Annex D.

This steering group ensures engagement with key stakeholders throughout the IPR process. This, alongside the public consultation, enables engagement on the various statutory and non-statutory assessments required to underpin the draft updated SMP-OWE.

Development of the Final Plan

This draft updated SMP-OWE and the associated sustainability appraisal assessments will be subject to public consultation for a period of 12 weeks. This aligns with the relevant legislative requirements to consult on the draft updated Plan and SEA ER with the Scottish Consultation Authorities (Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), Historic Environment Scotland (HES) and NatureScot).

Following the public consultation on this draft updated SMP-OWE, consultation analysis will be undertaken to provide a transparent analysis of responses received, aid in understanding of the views of individuals and organisation, and to feed into the finalisation of the updated SMP-OWE. A consultation analysis report will be produced, which will summarise the findings of the analysis and is expected to be published within 12 weeks of the consultation closing.

As part of the HRA process and based on the indicative findings presented in the HRA AAIR, further assessment of impacts will be conducted via an AA. Additional work is being carried out to quantify impacts on marine mammals and birds to inform the AA. The methods and findings of this additional work will be detailed in the AA.

The conclusion presented in the HRA AAIR is in advance of formal judgement (AA) made by the Offshore Wind Directorate (OWD), with statutory consultation with NatureScot. As the Competent Authority, the OWD is responsible for producing an AA that assesses the impacts of the updated Plan on protected sites in fulfilment of the Habitats Regulations obligations. The formal AA record needs to determine whether the updated Plan will not adversely affect the integrity of any protected sites with reference to their conservation objectives.

If it is concluded that the updated Plan will have an adverse effect on the integrity (AEOI) of a protected site (either alone or in combination with other plans or projects), the derogation process will be triggered. The competent authority has discretion to determine whether to proceed with the derogations process following a negative AA, or refuse adoption of the plan. The derogations process allows the Competent Authority to authorise the updated Plan only where the ‘derogation tests’ can be satisfied. It is acknowledged that where an AEOI cannot be ruled out, Scottish Ministers may, nevertheless, agree to the adoption of the updated Plan if they are satisfied that (i) there are no feasible alternative solutions to the plan that would be less damaging to the protected site; (ii) there are imperative reasons of overriding public interest (IROPI) justifying proceeding with the plan or project; and (iii) that all compensatory measures necessary to ensure that the overall coherence of network have been secured. The next stages of both the ICIA and BRIA processes will be carried out following this consultation, and final versions of the ICIA and BRIA will be prepared to inform the final updated SMP-OWE. The final versions of these assessments will be published alongside the adopted updated SMP-OWE.

The key findings outlined in the consultation analysis report, along with the key findings arising from the sustainability appraisal, will inform the development of the final updated SMP-OWE. The final draft updated Plan will be submitted to Scottish Ministers, who will decide the details of the final updated Plan and confirm whether they are content for the updated Plan to go through the adoption process.

After plan adoption, a Post-Adoption Statement will be produced in line with relevant environmental assessment legislative requirements. This will outline how the assessment and consultation responses have been taken into account within the finalised updated Plan.