The Competitiveness and Regulation of Offshore Wind Electricity

The Bergen Center for Competition Law and Economics (BECCLE), the Bergen Offshore Wind Centre (BOW), and the Aberdeen University Centre for Energy Law (AUCEL), are pleased to invite you to the international seminar “The Competitiveness and Regulation of Offshore Wind Electricity” to be held at the Faculty of Law of the University of Bergen, Seminar Room 2 on May 20, 2019.

The importance of renewable energy is beyond any doubt for the development of our society and the aim of minimizing the impact of climate change. In this development one of the relatively new actors that has erupted with strength in the last decade is the production of electricity by offshore wind turbines. Offshore wind power is no longer a theoretical possibility but an economic reality as the price per megawatt hour produce is reduced, the turbines become more efficient, the technology allows for them to be deployed further into the sea and there appears to be less issues of social unacceptance to this technology. Thus, it comes with no surprise the interest, for example, of the Norwegian Government to develop this technology, nor that European countries, but also other nations like China are actively investing in offshore wind technology.

However, despite these advances, many questions remain unaltered when it comes to the economic viability, legal regulation and social perceptions concerning this source of renewable electricity.

In this international seminar we will discuss the competitiveness and regulation of offshore wind from an engineering, law and social science perspective and focusing on issues ranging from the North Sea to Australia.

Agenda and speakers:

Start: 11.30 – Ends: 16.00

• Meet, greet and lunch
• Dr. Ignacio Herrera Anchustegui, UiB, Preliminary remarks
• Prof. Finn Gunnar Nielsen, UiB and Director of BOW – The Bergen Offshore Wind Centre and Offshore wind realities and possibilities
• Prof. Sigrid Schütz, UiB, From Strategic Marine Planning to Project Licences
• Prof. Birgitte Egelund Olsen, University of Aarhus, Community acceptance of offshore wind projects: The Danish experience
• Coffee break
• Prof. Tina Hunter, University of Aberdeen and Director of AUCEL - An Ill Wind Blows: Perceptions of Wind In Australia And The Legal Framework That Perpetuates Wind Sceptics
• Dr. Eddy Wifa, University of Aberdeen, Towards a Robust Offshore Wind Health and Safety Risk Governance: The UK Experience
• PhD candidate Mary Gilmore-Maurer, University of Aberdeen, topic to be confirmed
• Catharina Hovind, master student UiB, Offshore wind Licensing in Norway

Location: Seminar Room 2, 4^th floor, Law Faculty.

To register for the event, lunch and refreshments, please send an email to ignacio.herrera-anchustegui@uib.no