Regulatory Process
The process for compliance with offshore regulations for marine energy devices is evolving, rules are not well established, and appropriate design standards and guidelines are still being developed. Some international standards exist (e.g. IEC TC 114), but with the wide range of technology archetypes there exist a multitude of options open to developers, leading to an ad hoc process of negotiations between the developer and the regulator prior to deployment. Additionally the licensing, or consenting process, varies from country to country based on internal regulations. Therein lies the main benefit of international standards; when a country accepts a standard, or becomes part of the governing body, a device that meets that standard enters the country as a known quantity, smoothing the regulatory process.
OES-Environmental and the Pacific Northwest National Lab have compiled a document summarizing the consenting process in the individual OES member countries, which can be a useful starting point for understanding the international regulatory framework. This process is still evolving but with experience and the continuing work to create additional international standards, clearer rules are beginning to emerge. This wiki is intended to provide an overview of regulations, standards, and guidelines to help the marine energy sector understand the organization, context, and how they fit together in terms of governance and certification.
To make the rules more objective, regulators will have to recognize and adopt specific design, safety, and operations standards and rely on societies that provide class or certification for the installations. A Certified Verification Agency (CVA) is required to shepherd the developer through a complex web of possible certification and standards options to achieve compliance, based on the professional opinions of internal experts at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). A simplified review of distinctions between regulations, standards, guidelines, certification and some of the associated organizations is shown in Figure 1.
Definitions
Regulation is administrative legislation that constitutes or constrains rights and allocates responsibilities set by government authorities at the national and state levels.
Standards are documents developed from best practices, lessons learned, and research, used by consensus of the stakeholders that describes how a product is to be designed, built, tested, and operated.
Guidelines are recommended practice documents that are not subjected to a formal protocol or vote of constituencies. They are typically established by classification societies and are solely dependent on the internal quality process and peer review of the originating society.
Certification is an assessment process to ensure technical risks are mitigated by verification against standards.
Regulations
Regulation is administrative legislation that constitutes or constrains rights and allocates responsibilities set by government authorities at the national and state levels. The codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the departments and agencies of the federal government are codified in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).
Jurisdiction
Source: Energetics, adapted from U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy 2003.
Regulation and compliance in U.S. waters can be under state or federal jurisdiction, depending on water body and distance from shore. State jurisdiction applies to all the Great Lakes’ waters, and, for most states, three nautical miles seaward (3.5 statute miles or 5.6 kilometers) as shown in Figure 2. The exceptions are Louisiana, Texas, and the Gulf Coast of Florida given by:
- Louisiana extends 3 pre-1954 U.S nautical miles
- Texas and the Florida Gulf Coast extend 9 U.S. nautical miles (10.4 miles or 16.7 kilometers) seaward.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the only agency with jurisdiction for permitting offshore devices in state waters and the Great Lakes, based on Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act. This permit relates to devices that alter or obstruct navigable waters but has no specific reference to energy-related projects in the ocean. The USACE has assumed the lead agency responsibilities for permitting offshore wind facilities, and presumably marine energy facilities too. Its jurisdiction also extends to the 200 nautical miles boundary of the exclusive economic zone. In the United States, there is no national renewable energy policy for marine energy developments, nor is clear jurisdictional authority given to one federal agency. To date, private developers and utilities may be leading the activities and submitting proposals to the USACE without a clear due diligence procedure in place and without any streamlined permitting process. Also, the process generally varies significantly from state to state.
Beyond state jurisdiction on the OCS, regulation and compliance are under Depart of Interior (DOI) jurisdiction and specifically managed by the BOEM and BSEE. BOEM has published federal regulation rules in 30 CFR 585, which governs renewable energy projects on the OCS, but does not specify standards or detailed requirements. Instead it relies on CVAs to oversee an independent assessment of the facility design, fabrication, installation, operation, and decommissioning. Some CVAs are also class societies such as ABS, BV, DNV, and GL and have their own published guidelines to bridge gaps not covered in standards.
BOEM manages the exploration and development of U.S. offshore resources. It balances economic development, energy independence, and environmental protection through oil and gas leases, renewable energy development, and environmental reviews and studies. Relevant BOEM programs and functions include:
- The Office of Strategic Resources is responsible for the development of the Five Year OCS Oil and Natural Gas Leasing Program. It oversees assessments of the oil, gas, and other mineral resource potential and compiles inventories of oil and gas reserves, develops production projections, and conducts economic evaluations.
- Oil and gas lease sales along with sand and gravel negotiated agreements, official maps, and geographic information systems data.
- The Renewable Energy Program grants leases, easements, and rights-of-way for orderly, safe, and environmentally responsible renewable energy development activities.
- The Office of Environmental Programs conducts environmental reviews, including National Environmental Policy Act analyses and compliance documents for each major stage of energy development planning.
- Review of exploration plans and development operations and coordination documents, fair market value determinations, and geological and geophysical permitting.
The role of BSEE is to protect the environment and conserve resources offshore through vigorous regulatory oversight and enforcement. Following is a summary of associated programs and functions:
- The Offshore Regulatory Program develops standards and regulations to enhance operational safety and environmental protection for the exploration and development of offshore oil and natural gas on the OCS.
- The Oil Spill Response division is responsible for developing standards and guidelines for offshore operators’ oil spill response plans through internal and external reviews of industry oil spill response plans to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and coordination of oil spill drill activities. It also plays a critical role in the review and creation of policy and guidance, direction, and oversight of activities related to the agency’s oil spill response.
- The Environmental Enforcement Division provides sustained regulatory oversight that focuses on compliance by operators with all applicable environmental regulations and ensures that operators keep the promises they make at the time they obtain their leases, submit their plans, and apply for their permits.
- Review Applications for Permit to Drill to ensure implemented safety requirements are met and to conduct inspections of drilling rigs and production platforms using multi-person, multidiscipline inspection teams. Inspectors issue Incidents of Non-Compliance and have the authority to fine companies through civil penalties for regulatory infractions. Field operations personnel also investigate accidents and incidents.
Marine Energy Relevant Regulations
| CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS (CFR) | |
| 29 CFR Part 1910 | Occupational safety and health standards |
| 30 CFR Part 585 | Renewable energy alternate uses of existing facilities on the outer continental shelf |
| 33 CFR Part 67 | Aids to navigation on artificial islands and fixed structures |
| 33 CFR Parts 140 to 147 | Outer continental shelf activities |
| 33 CFR Part 322 | Permits for structures or work in or affecting navigable waters of the United States |
| FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION (FAA) | |
| FAA AC70/7460-1K | Obstruction marking and lighting |
| U.S. COAST GUARD (USCG) | |
| USCG COMDTINST M16672.2D | Navigation rules international-inland |
Standards
A standard is a document that has been developed through the consensus of experts; is approved and published by a recognized body; and comprises rules, guidelines, processes, or characteristics that allow users to achieve the same outcome. Standards can be international, national, or industry-specific and reflect agreements on the technical description of the characteristics to be fulfilled by the product, system, service or object in question. They are widely adopted at the regional or national level and are applied by manufacturers, trade organizations, purchasers, consumers, testing laboratories, governments, regulators and other interested parties. Not yet a standard, a technical specification approaches a standard in terms of detail and completeness but has not yet passed through all approval stages. For more information on marine energy industry standards visit our Standards page.
Guidelines
Guidelines are recommended practice documents that are not subjected to a formal protocol or vote of constituencies. They are typically established by classification societies and are solely dependent on the internal quality process and peer review of the originating society. Guidelines consist of recommended, nonmandatory controls that help support standards or serve as a reference when no applicable standard is in place. Guidelines should be viewed as best practices as judged by that society. They are not usually “requirements,” but are strongly recommended in some cases. Guidelines in general have a faster track toward completion and rely on company-based review compared to a larger multiorganization consensus-based standard process. Therefore, industry tends to adopt these guidelines sooner. Because classification societies also issue certificates, they readily use guidelines to fill in the gaps that standards do not yet cover.
American Bureau of Shipping (ABS)
The ABS, founded in 1862, is a classification society for marine-related facilities. It has been at the forefront of developing guidelines for the offshore oil and gas energy sector since the industry’s formative years. Although ABS is relatively new to the offshore renewable industry, it is uniquely qualified to transfer its offshore and regulatory knowledge toward establishing guidelines for the marine energy industry.
Det Norske Veritas - (DNV)
DNV is a merger between two classification societies, DNV and Germanischer Lloyd (GL), in 2013. DNV of Norway was established in 1864 to inspect and evaluate the technical conditions of Norwegian merchant vessels. Since then, DNV has played a major role in the offshore oil and gas industry by providing design guidelines and acting as a CVA. GL on the other hand was a classification society based in Germany. Its technical and engineering services included the mitigation of risks and assurance of technical compliance for the oil and gas and wind energy industries. GL’s acquisition of Garrad Hassan, an organization that was involved in marine energy consulting brought the technical knowledge of marine energy devices to GL. Merged to a single organization, DNV is the largest classification society that covers a broad spectrum of offshore industries. It has a large collection of guidelines for offshore structures, which are listed below. DNV has also been playing a leading role in IEC standard activities.
Guidelines Examples
| AMERICAN BUREAU OF SHIPPING (ABS) | |
| 6 | Mobile Offshore Drilling Units |
| 8 | Single Point Moorings |
| 10 | Steel Barges |
| 29 | Offshore Installations |
| 39 | Certification of Offshore Mooring Chain |
| 82 | Floating Production Installations |
| 90 | Application of Fiber Rope for Offshore Mooring |
| 114 | Automatic or Remote Control and Monitoring for Machinery and Systems (other than propulsion) on Offshore Installations |
| 115 | Fatigue Assessment of Offshore Structures |
| 120 | Surveys Using Risk-Based Inspection for the Offshore Industry |
| 126 | Buckling and Ultimate Strength Assessment for Offshore Structures |
| 160 | Mobile Offshore Units |
| 167 | Environmental Protection Notation for Offshore Units, Floating Installations, and Liftboats |
| DET NORSKE VERITAS (DNV) | |
| DNV-SE-0439 | Certification of condition monitoring |
| DNV-SE-0077 | Certification of fire protection systems for wind turbines |
| DNV-SE-0124 | Certification of grid code compliance |
| DNV-SE-0263 | Certification of lifetime extension of wind turbines |
| DNV-SE-0420 | Certification of meteorological masts |
| DNV-SE-0163 | Certification of tidal turbines and arrays |
| DNV-SE-0078 | Project certification of photovoltaic power plants |
| DNV-SE-0073 | Project certification of wind farms according to IEC 61400-22 |
| DNV-SE-0190 | Project certification of wind power plants |
| DNV-SE-0436 | Shop approval in renewable energy |
| DNV-SE-0441 | Type and component certification of wind turbines |
| DNV-SE-0074 | Type and component certification of wind turbines according to IEC 61400-22 |
| DNV-ST-0438 | Control and protection systems for wind turbines |
| DNV-ST-0076 | Design of electrical installations for wind turbines |
| DNV-ST-0126 | Design of wind turbine support structures |
| DNV-ST-0125 | Grid code compliance |
| DNV-ST-0262 | Lifetime extension of wind turbines |
| DNV-ST-0145 | Offshore substations |
| DNV-ST-0376 | Rotor blades for wind turbines |
| DNV-ST-0359 | Subsea power cables for wind power plants |
| DNV-ST-0164 | Tidal turbines |
| DNV-RP-0416 | Corrosion protection for wind turbines |
| DNV-RP-0440 | Electromagnetic compatibility of wind turbines |
| DNV-RP-0363 | Extreme temperature conditions for wind turbines |
| DNV-RP-0423 | Manufacturing and commissioning of offshore substations |
| DNV-RP-0046 | Qualification procedure for offshore high-voltage direct current (HVDC) technologies |
| DNV-RP-0043 | Safety, operation and performance of grid-connected energy storage systems |
| DNV-RP-0360 | Subsea power cables in shallow water |
| DNV-SE-0045 | Certification of subsea equipment and components |
| DNV-SE-0141 | Functional safety certification |
| DNV-SE-0079 | Qualification of manufacturers of special materials |
| DNV-SE-0160 | Technology qualification management and verification |
| DNV-ST-0035 | Subsea equipment and components |
| DNV-RP-F103 | Cathodic protection of submarine pipelines |
| DNV-RP-E305 | Design, testing and analysis of offshore fibre ropes |
| DNV-RP-C203 | Fatigue design of offshore steel structures |
| DNV-RP-G104 | Identification and management of environmental barriers |
| DNV-RP-0002 | Integrity management of subsea production systems |
| DNV-RP-O501 | Managing sand production and erosion |
| DNV-RP-F302 | Offshore leak detection |
| DNV-RP-C210 | Probabilistic methods for planning of inspection for fatigue cracks in offshore structures |
| DNV-RP-0005 | Replaced by RP-C203: Fatigue design of offshore steel structures |
| DNV-RP-0034 | Steel forgings for subsea applications |
| DNV-RP-O101 | Technical documentation for subsea projects |
| DNV-RP-F119 | Thermoplastic composite pipes |
Certification
There are two types of certification: type certification and project certification. Type certification is strictly for the wind turbine design and performance assurance for a given wind class regime. Project certification encompasses wind plant safety and reliability to quantify the risk within the development and operation phases of the wind plant.
Type Certification
A type certificate, similar to IEC 61400-22 type certificate for wind classes, with wave or current classes, can provides assurance that the marine energy device is designed, documented, and manufactured using methods conforming to a design basis specified by the manufacturer (design assumptions, specific standards, and technical requirements).
The type certification must consist of modules that include:
- Design basis evaluation
- marine energy device design evaluation
- Type testing
- Manufacturing evaluation
- Final evaluation
Performance-related characteristics (other than measurement of power performance) could be part of the type certification process with the addition of an optional type characteristic measurements module. The optional measurements include one or more of the following:
- Power quality test
- Low voltage ride-through tests
- Acoustic noise measurements
Figure 3 illustrates the device certification process and its various modules. An evaluation report and a conformity statement document conformity to each module.
Project Certification
Marine energy device plant stakeholders—financial institutions, banks, insurance companies, owners, operators, and regulatory authorities—require reliability and safety assessments of wind facilities to accurately define the technical risk involved in project development and operation. Such assessments are the objective of project certification.
The project certification process, outlined in Figure 4 is adapted from IEC 61400-22 for wind turbines, begins with a type-certified marine energy device and combines the foundation with a site-specific design environment. It considers manufacturing, installation, continuous operational monitoring, and decommissioning. In this process, the external physical environmental conditions, grid system conditions, and soil properties unique to the site are evaluated to determine whether they meet the requirements defined in the design basis set by the project.
In general, design requirements dictated by project-specific issues are separate from the type certification process. Type certification relies on specify offshore design requirements that is not site specific. IEC 61400-22 allows for the evaluation of the suitability of a type certified marine energy device for specific site conditions under project certification.
The mandatory modules for project certification are:
- Site condition assessment
- Design basis evaluation
- Integrated load analysis
- Design evaluation of wind turbine, blades, and support structure
- Manufacturing surveillance of wind turbine, blades, and support structure
- Transportation and installation surveillance
- Commissioning surveillance
- Final evaluation
Optional modules are:
- Design evaluation of other pieces not addressed above
- Manufacturing surveillance of other pieces not addressed above
- Project characteristic measurement
- Operation and maintenance surveillance