Following the adoption of the Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy (SMP-OWE) in October of 2020, Marine Scotland has announce the first annual call for new evidence under the “Iterative Plan Review” (IPR) procedure.  The IPR process involves stakeholder engagement and evidence from the related social, economic and environmental assessments.  As such the request for evidence, considered to be crucial to the implementation of the SMP-OWE in Scotland, is hoped to encourage submission of important research, monitoring and/or scientific programmes that can be incorporated into the overall SMP-OWE as appropriate.

The aim of the SMP-OWE was to “identify sustainable plan options for the future development of commercial-scale offshore wind energy in Scotland, including deep water wind technologies, and covers both Scottish inshore (Scottish territorial waters or within 12 NM from shore) and offshore waters (extending out to the Exclusive Economic Zone Limit)”.  15 “Plan Options” were identified in the SMP-OWE, which are split across 4 regions, and are capable of generating several GW of renewable energy.   

The call for evidence is open until 22 February 2022, with Marine Scotland outlining principles by which they require the evidence to be submitted by those interested in sharing evidence.