Greening offshore wind with the Smart Wind Chart evaluation tool

The development of offshore wind farms (OWFs) and the establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs) comprise two main elements for the production of clean energy, and the simultaneous maintenance and protection of biodiversity in the Mediterranean and Black seas. Successful, efficient, and sustainable coupling of these two aspects presumes that the criteria for selecting suitable locations for the deployment of OWFs should not only include technical-engineering terms (e.g. high wind energy efficiency, bottom suitability, inland infrastructures) but also ecological–environmental considerations (e.g. the least possible impact on biodiversity, ecosystem functioning) and socio-economic aspects (e.g. effects on coastal and marine activities, development of marine spatial planning). In the context of the FP7 CoCoNet project, the integration between OWFs and MPAs is based on four main steps: (i) the identification of existing (networks of) MPAs focusing on the biodiversity distribution patterns and current legislation, (ii) the coupling of offshore wind potential within networks of MPAs, (iii) the evaluation of the knowledge gained up to date and the theoretical approaches at the two pilot sites of the Mediterranean and Black sea basins, and (iv) the development of the “Smart Wind Chart”, a convenient and rational tool addressed to scientists and policy makers for the evaluation of maritime policy management schemes. The latter step comprises the core of this work.