The innovation of the project lies in the prioritization and evaluation of the medium term proposed offshore renewable areas which the Hellenic National Program for the development of OWFs has recently published (www.herema.gr). Thus, the project is in line with the recent developments in the relevant field in Greece and will cover aspects regarding the evaluation of OWFs which have not been considered until now; i.e. conflicts between maritime activities, social information, employment, demographic and cultural aspects, techno-economic aspects.
Furthermore, internationally, the focus of the environmental impact assessment of OWFs has been put on biophysical impacts, especially on birds and marine mammals. There has been much less attention on the socio-economic impacts on local and regional coastal communities adjacent to the offshore wind energy projects. In particular, the coverage of social impacts is minimal. Moreover, the integration of conflicts between maritime activities in the context of OWFs assessment, has never been considered until now. Furthermore, studies that assess synergies between maritime activities and the potential of multi-uses in the marine environment are still relatively limited. The latter is extremely important for the delineation of wind farms and furthermore, for its integration in the framework of MSP which is currently applied in Greece (Directive 2014/89/EU).
The project will, therefore, cover an important gap in the already known process of delineating OWFs ensuring the sustainable use of marine space and supporting the realization of a Blue Economy in the relevant areas.