Governing Offshore Wind (GOV-WIND)

Bakgrunn for prosjektet (Engelsk)

Humankind consumes more energy than ever and will continue to do so to support the growing use of technology, the digitalisation of almost all facets of citizens’ lives and to satisfy basic societal needs. Offshore wind power could and should play a leading role in providing consumers with clean, affordable and renewable energy in the near future due to its characteristics, and thus, can be a key player in limiting climate change. While the technology is already here, the regulation and policy to foster and deal with the consequences of its exploitation are still nascent creating the need for further legal research.

_{The project will provid a critical and rigorous interdisciplinary analysis of the current regulation of offshore wind in the EU/EEA and other selected jurisdictions from a market-oriented perspective.} 

Om prosjektet (Engelsk)

Six aspects makes the project relevant, timely, novel and needed.

• Unlike other studies concerning offshore wind regulation which are of a narrow scope - focusing on its environmental impact, health and safety, land planning and jurisdictional matters, financial viability, or grid development - this project is designed to provide a holistic and interdisciplinary analysis of offshore wind governance from a regulatory and market-oriented perspective.
• Further, offshore wind regulation is constructed following a ‘top-down’ approach, studying offshore power as as part of renewable electricity regulation. This would contribute to a better understanding of the applicable rules because wind governance is built upon and must comply with the EU/EEA energy rules and policy, while Member States having some room for national diversity.
• The project aspires to have practical impact. Thus, it has been designed to have a special emphasis on the competitiveness, market integration, and financial development and state support of offshore wind activity, an area currently lacking legal research.
• The project is interdisciplinary. While it has legal method(s) at its core, I will resort to other disciplines (such as industrial economics, wind engineering, economic geography of political science) and methodologies to design relevant research questions, help answering questions on the law and about the law, and provide technical knowledge to create well-informed policy suggestions.
• Additionally, the focus of this project complements expertise at the UiB as a whole and the legal faculty in particular, as well as the UiB’s strategy. My research, teaching and administrative skills will further the expertise of our university in energy matters, thus contributing to its further consolidation as an international point of reference.
• Finally, the project is designed to strengthen cross-Faculty cooperation at the UiB and utilize my existing and also create new international network opportunities for collaborative work, which I actively endeavour to achieve in realising the project goals, and to participate in external funding applications and promote the further development of energy law research and teaching at the UiB.