The Ministry of the Environment is asking for a tender for the project "Overall review of the situation and development picture of offshore wind power". The project examines the current situation in offshore wind power development and all future opportunities for marine energy production in Finnish sea areas, including Åland (e.g. hydrogen and ammonia production, while focusing on offshore wind power). The report will also assess what kind of conflicts may arise between offshore wind power and other maritime industries in the future, and how, due to the changing use of the sea area, joint benefits will be built between the future visions of different maritime activities. The review includes territorial waters, the exclusive economic zone and, where applicable, the coast, as well as, in terms of projects, plans and activities that have a significant impact on Finland, the sea areas of other countries in the Baltic Sea region, especially the offshore wind projects in Sweden and Estonia.
The development pictures are evaluated for 2035, 2040 and 2050. The project is timely, as technological development has enabled larger wind farms to be planned further out and deeper in the seas. It is not yet possible to know exactly what the future number of power plants will be, but interest in marine energy production is now growing strongly. That is why we need a brighter picture of what the volume of marine energy production in Finland and other countries in the Baltic Sea region may look like in the future. Information is also needed on how spatial and temporal synergies and conflicts between marine industries may change with increasing offshore wind power in the future. The information is needed for maritime spatial planning, and it also benefits municipalities, wind power operators, the state and other parties, for example. The project supports the preparation of Finland's next maritime spatial plan, which will be completed in 2026.
The editor collects information from all relevant available sources. The information is supplemented with expert interviews, and a final report is compiled on the results. The supplier's task is also to prepare a high-quality infographic on the development picture of offshore wind power and marine energy production, as well as a map service in which the spatial and temporal synergies and conflicts of different maritime industries with offshore wind power are visible. Towards the end of the project (October-November 2023), a stakeholder workshop will be held to collect feedback on the draft map service. PowerPoint presentations of the key results of the project will be made available to the client and maritime spatial planning.
The map service, infographics and PowerPoints produced in the project will be produced in Finnish, Swedish and English. The final and interim reports are otherwise produced in Finnish, but the summary of the final report is also produced in Swedish and English. In addition to the results of the project, the final report describes recommendations for collecting additional information and research needs in the future.
The project will run from June 2023 to December 2023.
The project examines the current state and future scenarios of Finland's marine energy production and other industries connected to the sea and the coast. In addition to marine energy production, these sectors include fishing and fish farming, tourism and recreation, maritime cultural heritage, maritime industry (e.g. shipyards), maritime extractive industries, protection of marine nature, and maritime transport.
The report must assess how different developments in marine energy production can also affect other maritime industries, and the possible effects of these developments on the cultures and livelihoods of Finland's coastal communities. This also means taking into account the significant projects and activities of other countries in the Baltic Sea region, especially Sweden and Estonia, as part of the overall assessment of future scenarios. The project assesses what kind of conflicts market-based offshore wind power production can cause with other maritime industries in the Finnish sea area, as well as in the wider Baltic Sea region.
The study also assesses the direction in which developments in, for example, energy markets, transmission networks and technologies that are intrinsically linked to marine energy production are likely to go by 2035, 2040 and 2050. The 2040 review will support the milestone year of the TEN-E framework for the planning of cross-border energy infrastructure in the EU.
All years are approached through two scenarios: 1) the realisation of marine energy production will only be based on the areas designated in Finland's Maritime Spatial Plan 2030 (MSP scenario) or 2) maritime energy production will develop mainly on market terms without effective public location control (Market scenario).
The task of the supplier is to find out:
1) the current state of Finland's marine energy production and connected maritime industries,
2) the potential potential of Finland's marine energy production (especially offshore wind power, but also, for example, hydrogen and other electric fuels) in 2035, 2040 and 2050,
(3) what the synergies and conflicts with marine energy production between the marine sectors considered in the project may look like in 2035, 2040 and 2050, and what scenario-specific (MSP and Market scenarios) differences may be;
(4) what the trajectories of maritime energy-linked industries (e.g. transmission networks, technological development, non-marine energy sectors and ports) will look like in 2035, 2040 and 2050;
5) the overall impact that significant projects and activities in other countries in the Baltic Sea region (e.g. large offshore wind farms or electricity transmission networks) may have on the development picture of Finland's marine energy production and other marine industries examined in the project in 2035, 2040 and 2050, and
(6) What social and cultural impacts are expected from the expected developments?
The project will run from June 2023 to December 2023, and a maximum of EUR 180,000 has been reserved for its implementation. The project will produce one interim report, high-quality infographics, spatial datasets and a map service for maritime spatial planning, PowerPoint presentations and a final report. The map service is prepared directly for the ArcGIS Online system for maritime spatial planning. The journalist also prepares 1-2 news items for the maritime spatial planning website as needed. It would be important to be able to start the studies related to the project already in the summer of 2023.