Project

MOET - Managing the Environmental Sustainability of the Offshore Energy Transition

Offshore wind farm at Liverpool. Carl Raw, Unsplash

Active project

Project start: February 2022 | Project end: March 2027
Funder: NERC
Principal Investigator: Jerry Blackford
Other participants from PML: Nicola Beaumont, Ricardo Torres, Marius Dewar, Lizzi Gabe-Thomas, Muchamed Al Azhir, Stephen Watson

MOET will assess the environmental sustainability of offshore wind, blue and green hydrogen, and carbon capture and storage for selected test areas of the UK offshore, and will develop solutions for planning the technology and infrastructure of the offshore energy transition. It will also assess public understanding and acceptance of those technologies.

The UK Government has committed to achieve net zero by 2050, with an aspiration to keep global mean temperature rise to below 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels. The UK energy sector has already embarked on the transition from fossil fuel to renewable energy as a means to sustain prosperity while achieving net zero. The UK’s energy transition will require increased development of offshore wind, storage of blue and green hydrogen, and CO₂ storage. Interaction of these with often sensitive marine environments (subsurface, seabed, water column), and other marine based activities (fishing, aggregate extraction, cables, shipping), creates potentially significant new challenges for the protection and optimal use of these spaces.

PML will undertake this major research project in conjunction the British Geological Survey and National Oceanography Centre to create new national capability that will support future policy-making and marine planning.

Impact

Our internationally recognised expertise, in collaboration with MOET stakeholders, will ensure the delivery of the fundamental environmental and social research needed to support evidence-based decision-making, offshore regulation and operational best-practice for the sustainable use of the UK continental shelf.