SEA, Marine Spatial Planning
and Offshore Wind
Prague 2011
PRESENTED BY:
BRADY ROMANSON & PETER MULVIHILL
YORK UNIVERSITY
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA
Presentation Agenda
 Background Context
 Canadian marine management and planning strategies
 Ontario strategy for renewable energy development
 Case Study
 Bringing offshore wind to Ontario and the Great Lakes
 Marine Spatial Planning (MSP)
 An overview including international examples in practice
 Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)
 Tying together MSP and SEA as planning tool to advance
offshore wind development in Ontario
 Concluding Remarks
SEA, Marine Spatial Planning and Offshore WInd
Background: The Canadian/ Ontarian context for Oceans
Management and Renewable Energy Development
 Oceans Act, 1996
 5 major legislative and policy initiatives in 15 years to guide
Oceans Management (including the Great Lakes) across
Canada
 Green Energy and Green Economy Act, 2009.
 New planning and regulatory authorities for Renewable
Energy Developments (i.e. WIND POWER)
 One window planning approach
 Feed-in-Tariff Program
 Onshore Wind 13.5 ¢/kWh
 Offshore Wind 19.0 ¢/kWh
SEA, Marine Spatial Planning and Offshore WInd
Case Study:
Toronto Hydro’s Offshore Wind Proposal
 Project Profile
 Lake Ontario – spanning 125 kilometres along the shoreline
 60 offshore wind turbine
 200 Mega Watt production capacity
 Distance from shore – between 2-4 kilometres
 The Planning Problem(s)
 Untested regulatory process
 Public opposition
 Lack of information and planning/ implementation strategy
SEA, Marine Spatial Planning and Offshore WInd
Planning Tools for Offshore Wind
Marine Spatial Planning
Strategic Environmental Assessment
SEA, Marine Spatial Planning and Offshore WInd
Marine Spatial Planning
 Oceans Management planning tool
 Emerged over the past 10 years throughout various
jurisdictions
 Rooted from Land-Use Planning- MSP seeks to
dissolve spatial conflicts amongst uses and users of
offshore space.


Ec0-system based approach
Collaborative planning approach
 Creating a zoning guide for Offshore Wind
development and incorporation into sea-use
management
SEA, Marine Spatial Planning and Offshore WInd
Strategic Environmental Assessment
Hierarchy
MSP

SEA (wind policy; offshore wind policy, programs,
and plans)

Project/ Class Environmental Assessment
for offshore wind projects
SEA, Marine Spatial Planning and Offshore WInd
Concluding Remarks
 In Ontario, the prospect of offshore wind will remain
at an impasse for the foreseeable future
 A more effective Planning and Assessment process
such as MSP and SEA needs to be developed an
applied for offshore wind in Ontario
SEA, Marine Spatial Planning and Offshore WInd
SEA, Marine Spatial Planning
and Offshore Wind
Prague 2011
THANK YOU