Multi-use maritime platforms - North Sea oil and offshore wind: Opportunity and risk

Multi Use Platform (MUP) concepts integrate different maritime economic activities within the same space. In line with the EU's Blue Growth Strategy, this new type of business model provides a series of potential advantages: efficient use of marine space, sharing of risks and costs, sharing resources, reduced environmental impacts, and enhanced socio-economic benefits. Delivering this vision will require tools that identify viable multiuse combinations allowing for the optimal use of sea space. The analysis performed here shows how the combined use of statistical analyses and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) might achieve this task in the context of oil & gas and offshore wind in the North Sea. Results provide a delimitation of the study area according to the spatial distribution of oil resources and the best technological configuration required by the wind industry. The analysis opens the door for the identification of additional factors that might influence the development of this new business model; for example differences between the Norwegian and UK's energy markets, climate policies or oil production patterns have to be highlighted. After reviewing these aspects, it can be concluded that current Norwegian policy and market features provide a promising starting point for the development of this specific MUP concept.