Hogan Lovell OffshoreBook 2023 230809 OnlinePDF - Flipbook - Page 111
Offshore Wind Worldwide 2023
which are not pre-investigated by the
state.
(c) Site Development Plan
In a first step, the Federal Maritime and
Hydrographic Agency (BSH) sets up a
"Site Development Plan" for the EEZ
(and if agreed with the states also for the
territorial sea) which is the main (spatial)
planning instrument in respect of the
OWTGs and GCSs.14
This Site Development Plan determines the zoning regulations mainly with
respect to OWTGs and GCSs, including
determinations of eligible zones (Gebiete) and particular sites (Flächen)
within zones, sequence of participation
of sites in the tender procedures; target
installation years for the OWTGs in the
particular sites or for the relevant GCS,
locations of converter platforms etc. The
Site Development Plan can also include
determinations for "other energy generation areas" (see section 7 below) and
determines whether the pre-investigation by the state applies for a particular
site or not.
The currently effective Site Development
Plan 2023 has been published on 20
January 2023; its determinations apply
for the period as from 2026.15
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(d) Site pre-investigation
For the sites for which a pre-investigation
concept applies (see above), the pre-investigation will be conducted under the
responsibility of the relevant authority
with the target to (i) assess the suitability
of the sites, (ii) to assess certain aspects
which are independent from the specific
project design in order to accelerate the
following construction permit process
and (iii) to provide bidders with all information required in order to allow for a
competitive determination of their bid
to be submitted in the following tender
process. The site pre-investigation e.g.
includes reports on the current status of
the site, preliminary assessment, wind
and oceanographic reports and marine
traffic reports.
The competent authority for the pre-examination is the Federal Network Agency
(Bundesnetzagentur – BNetzA); however,
the responsibility can be delegated to
the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic
Agency for the EEZ and to state authorities for sites within the coastal waters.
Site pre-investigations are to be completed before the publication of the respective tender for the site, or if possible,
already in the preceding year.16
(e) Tender process
As a last step, a competitive tender process is conducted in order to determine
14 Information regarding updates of the Site Development Plan are available at https://www.bsh.de/DE/THEMEN/Offshore/Meeresfachplanung/Flaechenentwicklungsplan/flaechenentwicklungsplan_node.html
15 Available at: https://www.bsh.de/DE/THEMEN/Offshore/Meeresfachplanung/Flaechenentwicklungsplan/_Anlagen/Downloads/FEP_2023_1/Flaechenentwicklungsplan_2023.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=1
16 Details for all current site investigations are available at: https://www.bsh.de/DE/THEMEN/Offshore/Flaechenvoruntersuchung/flaechenvoruntersuchung_node.html
