Commentary on Sections Part 2: Sustainability and Renewable Energy Sources Chapter 2: Offshore Production of Energy Section 84: Exploitation of areas outside the territorial sea for energy production
239.This section vests in Her Majesty the rights of the UK in Part V of UNCLOS only as regards the production of energy from water or winds. Section 104(2) makes it clear that the reference to energy from water includes the production of energy from both currents and tides. The rights vested encompass exploration activities and exploitation of these renewable energy resources and related purposes. The most important such purpose is the transmission and distribution of the electricity generated using water and wind power to markets onshore. Part V of UNCLOS includes rules about establishing the breadth of the exclusive economic zone. The section contains a power to designate by an Order in Council the extent of a Renewable Energy Zone around the UK to be established in accordance with the rules laid down in UNCLOS. The Renewable Energy Zone is the area within which the UK is able to exercise its rights to produce energy from water or winds.