The Crown Estate is requesting views from the industry on how to drive forward floating wind projects by 2030 to meet the UK Government’s 1GW target.
The seabed licensing agency has invited views from the market to obtain an understanding of the scale of the opportunity for floating wind in the UK and the likely pipeline of projects between now and 2030.
It is also soliciting feedback in terms of how rights to develop floating offshore wind could be made available in a way that accelerates deployment and helps build a strong UK supply chain as well as the likely impact of floating wind development on spatial and environmental considerations given an increasingly busy marine environment.
Feedback received will directly inform the Crown Estate’s work on the potential design, scale and shape of any future floating offshore wind leasing activity, in support of the Government’s 1GW of floating wind by 2030 target and aligned with the Contracts for Difference auctions.
Following this market engagement, a further update will be made next year to outline the Crown Estate’s plans to enable the next phase of early commercial-scale floating wind.
Crown Estate energy, infrastructure and minerals director Huub den Rooijen said: “Floating offshore wind is an essential technology to achieve net zero by 2050.
“It can open up new locations for offshore wind across the UK’s seabed, creating a new economic success story with potential for jobs up and down the country.
“With clear Government policy and market appetite, the time has come to move beyond demonstration. We look forward to working closely with the market and stakeholders to enable early commercial-scale floating wind projects in a way which recognises the wide range of interests offshore and protects our marine environment.”
Lesley Griffiths, Welsh Government Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs, said: “I am very pleased that the Crown Estate is keen to discuss future opportunities for floating offshore energy production.
“The Crown Estate’s management of such opportunities, and how it plans leasing activity, plays a vital role in the future of offshore energy production.
“Discussions such as these help to give confidence to those planning large-scale projects within the sector, and we will continue to engage with The Crown Estate for a timely resolution.”
The Crown Estate said it is committed to taking a “strategic and holistic view” of how the UK’s offshore wind resources can support the nation’s net zero ambition and wider environmental considerations in the most effective way.
To achieve this, its 100MW capacity Test and Demonstration seabed rights process will be temporarily paused for new applications, to provide the chance to assess the “current state of play of the whole offshore wind pipeline” and consider how future seabed leasing for early commercial floating wind projects could fit with existing activities offshore.
As part of the Crown Estate’s commitment to enable future development potential in the waters off England, Wales and Northern Ireland beyond 2030, it recently published ‘Broad Horizons’, a technical analysis of key resource areas for offshore wind.
This shows that, given technological advances in the sector by 2040 including the potential offered by floating offshore wind, there will be few technical limits to where offshore wind developments can be sited.