This Meeting Report summarises the results of two workshops held in March 2009 at the King James Thistle Hotel, Edinburgh, on Spatial Planning for Marine Renewable Energy Arrays. The two workshops brought together around 40 experts including policy makers and advisors, scientists, businesses and civil society organisations to provide a neutral forum, under Chatham House rules, for full and frank dialogue to discuss measures for maximising the sustainability marine energy arrays within the UK government target timescales.
The first workshop, “Marine Planning for Arrays: Social, economic and environmental issues and implications”, examined the social, economic and environmental impacts and cumulative impacts relating to siting and deployment of arrays and how to integrate the assessment and management of these using a holistic approach that considers the entire marine and coastal system. The second workshop, “Marine spatial planning for the deployment of arrays”, examined the marine planning policy context, simplification of consenting, locational criteria and models under development to aid decision-making.