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Crown Estate Announces 4GW Floating Wind Opportunity for the Celtic Sea

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The Crown Estate has published further detail on its plans for floating wind leasing in the Celtic Sea, confirming its ambition to unlock up to 4GW of new clean energy capacity in England and Wales, and help establish a new industrial sector for the UK.

The leasing process will deliver enough new capacity to provide clean power for almost 4m more homes, in support of the UK’s net zero target, as well as creating opportunities for significant new investment in jobs, skills, and infrastructure.

The proposals, published on Wednesday, follow engagement with government, stakeholders and the market, and include a focus on two project categories:

Early-commercial scale projects (of circa 300-350MW); and full-commercial scale projects (of up to 1GW).

Leasing designed at pace and scale will support supply chain and infrastructure development, and help underpin a sustainable future for the sector, and ensure Wales, the South West, and the wider UK, benefit from the  opportunity.

The leasing process could see rights awarded by the end of 2023, with projects delivered from 2030 into the early part of the next decade.

The proposals for floating wind leasing in the Celtic Sea reflect The Crown Estate’s evolving approach to leasing offshore, which is designed to help address the strategic challenges facing renewable energy projects in our increasingly complex marine environment.

These include the need to mitigate pressures on coastal and marine habitats, deliver socio-economic benefits for communities while minimising the impact of infrastructure, and improve coordination with other industries and activities at sea.

The approach is designed to help support the sustainable development of the floating wind sector in the UK over the long-term. The idea being to create a pipeline of opportunities, enable continuing market and technology development, and unlock growth and investment in the UK supply chain infrastructure, such as ports and grid connections.

The Crown Estate will now begin the next stages of its engagement with market and stakeholders on the floating wind programme, which will take place in two phases over the winter of 2021/22.

Phase one will focus on the spatial design, gathering data and evidence to inform the location of project sites.

Phase two will invite views on the design of the market tender and the wider considerations of the programme, including supply chain, ports and grid, as well as community benefits such as skills and employment.

To ensure a coordinated approach to assessing potential environmental impacts, the Llŷr and White Cross test and demonstration scale projects (announced earlier this year) will form part of the Plan-Level Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) for floating wind in the Celtic Sea.

Huub den Rooijen, Managing Director of Marine at The Crown Estate:

“Floating wind technology offers a powerful opportunity to open up the renewable energy resources of the Celtic Sea, helping to tackle the climate crisis with additional clean power and ignite a new industrial sector.

“We are focused on realising this potential in a way that supports the development of the regional supply chain and infrastructure, protects our marine environment, and harnesses the opportunity for local communities.

“We look forward to working closely with UK and Welsh governments, regional authorities, the market and stakeholders to establish this emerging sector and reinforce the UK’s position as the world leaders in offshore wind.”

Responding to the announcement, Julie James, the Welsh Government’s Minister for Climate Change, said:

“The opportunity for floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea offers substantial renewable energy to support a net zero Wales and puts us at the forefront of this fast developing industry.

“We welcome this announcement, it offers certainty for developers and helps us optimise the resources from the Celtic Sea while guarding against unacceptable impacts on the marine environment.

“We look forward to working constructively with The Crown Estate to ensure this investment delivers economic and community benefits for Wales.”

Business News Wales