BLUECEE – Strengthening Policy and Governance Capacity for Blue Energy in Central and Eastern Europe

Background

Power generation from renewable energy sources (RES) in European seas contributes significantly to the European Union’s (EU) clean energy transition. They do not only promote the EU’s 2030 carbon reduction targets but also its long-term strategy of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. In relation to the outbreak of the energy price crisis in late 2021 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, offshore wind has gained strategic importance in the EU. Not only does unlocking the offshore wind potential open a wide range of opportunities for the economic development of coastal communities, but these technologies have also matured enough to provide access to stronger and more frequent power flows. However, sound public policy design and legislation, well-coordinated marine planning and permitting procedures ensuring reliable environmental protection and geological-geophysical data are crucial to activate marine renewable energy’s potential within Central Eastern Europe (CEE).

Project

The project aims at strengthening the capacity and readiness for multi-level governance of sustainable energy deployment in Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, and Romania in the region of the Black-Adriatic-Baltic Sea. Thus, reinforcing Europe’s leadership in the sector. To achieve this goal, BLUECEE creates a knowledge repository, policy advocacy, and outreach instrument: the Black Sea Renewable Energy Coalition platform. During the process of project implementation, a coalition consisting of businesses, public authorities, knowledge institutions and civil society from Bulgaria and Romania is formed. By facilitating a variety of formats for collaboration, the coalition enables the transfer of good practices from more advanced offshore energy markets in Europe to the CEE region and assists in designing a bottom-up policy and governance framework for the deployment of offshore renewable energy in coastal communities. These exemplary communities cooperate closely with experienced offshore energy and nature coalitions on the European level and leverage their experience to replicate their cooperation success. The project brings together working groups consisting of participants with expert knowledge on the topic, local and EU decision-makers with low knowledge about offshore wind energy specifics, and the broader public. Through close collaboration, they develop models of co-existence between marine renewable energy facilities and other economic and societal needs based on national characteristics. These findings are then communicated to policymakers in the CEE region and in the EU. The work of the newly established coalition is accompanied by the Blue Energy Fellowship Programme, which will be further developed with CEE universities to attract new talents to the industry by giving them the opportunity to be closely engaged in the work of the coalition.

Last update: September 2024