Marine Energy Environmental Permitting and Compliance Costs

William J. Peplinski, Jesse Roberts, Geoff Klise, Sharon Kramer, Zach Barr, Anna West and Craig Jones
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William J. Peplinski: Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87185, USA
Jesse Roberts: Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87185, USA
Geoff Klise: Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87185, USA
Sharon Kramer: H. T. Harvey & Associates, Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA
Zach Barr: Kearns & West, San Francisco, CA 94104, USA
Anna West: Kearns & West, San Francisco, CA 94104, USA
Craig Jones: Integral Consulting, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 16, 1-18

Abstract: Costs to permit Marine Energy projects are poorly understood. In this paper we examine environmental compliance and permitting costs for 19 projects in the U.S., covering the last 2 decades. Guided discussions were conducted with developers over a 3-year period to obtain historical and ongoing project cost data relative to environmental studies (e.g., baseline or pre-project site characterization as well as post-installation effects monitoring), stakeholder outreach, and mitigation, as well as qualitative experience of the permitting process. Data are organized in categories of technology type, permitted capacity, pre- and post-installation, geographic location, and funding types. We also compare our findings with earlier logic models created for the Department of Energy (i.e., Reference Models). Environmental studies most commonly performed were for Fish and Fisheries, Noise, Marine Habitat/Benthic Studies and Marine Mammals. Studies for tidal projects were more expensive than those performed for wave projects and the range of reported project costs tended to be wider than ranges predicted by logic models. For eight projects reporting full project costs, from project start to FERC or USACE permit, the average amount for environmental permitting compliance was 14.6%.

Keywords: ECCA; marine energy; environmental compliance; licensing; permitting; compliance costs; project development; monitoring (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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