International regulations and laws laid down in 1982 by the United Nations are failing to address the modern issues surrounding the development of offshore wind farms, according to a legal expert at the Russian Academy of Science in Moscow.
Writing in the International Journal of Public Law and Policy, Ekaterina Anyanova explains how alternative methods of energy production, including wind energy, are increasingly important in the face of climate change and efforts to reduce carbon emissions. However, although basic international regulations are contained within the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), from 1982, more detailed regulation at the international level is now needed.
Despite the fact that only about 40 Gigawatts of power is currently generated worldwide using wind turbines, this figure is set to rise as demand for so-called renewable energy sources rises and pressure to side-step construction of power stations that utilise fossil fuels or nuclear power increases. Offshore wind power is a relatively young technology and has been the subject of much criticism for its putatively detrimental impact on marine ecosystems as well as affecting the aesthetics of coastlines where such wind farms are visible to users of the shore and coastal waters. Nevertheless, offshore does have advantages over land-based wind power although current costs are 40% higher for offshore.
UNCLOS addresses the legal status of the territorial waters, its bed and subsoil. Territorial waters are adjacent to the land territory and internal waters belt of sea, over which extends the sovereignty of a coastal state, explains Anyanova, the breadth of the area of the territorial waters may not exceed 12 nautical miles, measured from baselines and the territorial waters are under the exclusive sovereignty of the coastal state. Within the territorial waters approval for construction of wind farms is required and the construction and functioning of offshore parks must be aligned with the national authorities. Despite this, UNCLOS also grants right of innocent passage through territorial waters, which could then lead to interference or conflict as shipping passes through waters planted with wind turbines and related wiring and equipment.
Anyanova stresses that it is time to develop a single regulatory regime for the construction and use of offshore wind farms to address the deficiencies in the 1982 international law. The new regulations would have to deal with environmental, territorial and others issues in much more detail than is found in the UNCLOS and to broach the subject of disputes between nations that will inevitably arise as offshore wind power becomes a more attractive energy producer.
“Offshore wind energy and the rules of international law” in Int. J. Public Law and Policy, 2011, 1(3), 299-308