RenewableUK has welcomed the results of the Crown Estate’s Celtic Sea leasing Round 5 as “potentially transformative” for the Welsh economy.
RUK Cymru’s director Jessica Hooper said the leasing of two 1.5GW seabed plots to Equinor and an EDF Renewables UK-ESB joint venture could present a £4.8bn opportunity for Welsh businesses and create more than 3,000 jobs over the next decade.
She added: “We welcome this announcement of the first two large-scale floating wind sites in the Celtic Sea, as this technology has the potential to be transformative for the Welsh economy.
“Despite challenging market conditions, we’re pleased to see the outcome for Equinor and Gwynt Glas – marking an important first step to building a much-needed pipeline of projects in the Celtic Sea.”
Hooper also called on the Crown Estate needed to bring forward details on further planned leasing rounds to “provide certainty” to investors to fully scale up supply chains and ensure workers have the right skills to “make Wales a world leader in this cutting-edge technology”.
She said: “To maximise the benefits of this technology and the investment in local facilities and supply chains we need long-term visibility on future leasing rounds and support in the upcoming clean power auction to start building out projects in Welsh waters and across the UK.”
RUK’s deputy chief executive Jane Cooper (pictured) said Round 5 was “just the start” of deploying a UK-wide floating wind pipeline that could create 40GW installed capacity, employ 97,000 people and generate £97 billion for the economy by 2050.
“Awarding leases to the first two sites for floating wind projects in the Celtic Sea marks a significant first step forward for this innovative technology which is set to play a major role in the UK’s future clean energy mix,” she added.
“But this is just the start – the UK already has one of the largest floating project pipelines in the world, so we have an opportunity to delivery green economic growth at scale.”