ABPmer was commissioned by Marine Scotland to support the development and appraisal of Scotland’s 2013 draft plan for offshore wind, wave and tidal development which sought to identify option areas for future development.

Plan development followed Marine Scotland’s sectoral marine planning process. This entailed initial scoping work for the required Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), Habitats Regulations Appraisal (HRA) and a socio-economic assessment (SEIA).

We then worked closely with Marine Scotland to further develop draft plan option areas (DPOs) for offshore wind, wave and tidal development and to prepare an HRA and SEIA.

Information from the draft appraisals was used to support refinement of the DPOs in an iterative manner, in particular to take account of potential issues relating to marine protected areas and protected species and to address potential interactions with other sea users, particularly commercial fishing and shipping.

Scottish Government consulted on the draft plan in 2013 and the draft option areas were incorporated into Scotland’s National Marine Plan.