Offshore Renewables Decommissioning guidance for industry: proposed updates

Overview

The date for responses has been extended to 16 March to ensure we capture as many views on the draft Guidance Notes as possible in determining the final version of the document.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is seeking views on a series of proposed updates to its Guidance for industry on decommissioning of offshore renewable energy installations under the Energy Act 2004.

This consultation applies to England and Wales, however we welcome responses from organisations based elsewhere who have views on how the proposed changes may impact the offshore renewable energy industry as a whole.

Before responding to the questions set out in the consultation, we recommend that you read at least the consultation document setting out our proposals.

Why your views matter

The former Department for Energy and Climate Change, now BEIS, published the most recent edition of its guidance for the decommissioning of offshore renewable energy installations in 2011. Since then, industry and regulators’ understanding and practical experience of decommissioning have developed considerably, and an update to the guidance is required to reflect the growing evidence base.

We have produced a first draft of the updated guidance (please see the link at the bottom of this page), but before we formally publish it we want to gather views from industry, regulators, and other interested parties to ensure we fully understand any potential impacts on them. These might include impacts on the offshore renewables sector, environmental impacts, or impacts on other users of the sea. We also want to test some early ideas which could feed into a wider review of decommissioning policy in the next few years. Finally, we are interested from hearing from those organisations impacted by decommissioning about their experiences of the regime to date, and any ideas for additional changes to our guidance that are not already included in the draft.

The easiest way to respond is via this online survey, but you can also send responses to our email address, which can be found on the right hand side of this page.