The Crown Estate has confirmed it will proceed with its capacity increase programme to maximise the potential of existing seabed leases at seven UK wind farms.
The move rubber stamps earlier requests made by developers awarded rights in either the Crown Estate’s offshore leasing Round 3 or 2017 Extensions round.
Today’s announcement officially raises the total capacity at the projects by an additional 4.7GW and confirms nameplate ratings at arrays including RWE’s 1.1GW Awel y Mor off Wales and 1.2GW Rampion 2 off south England, plus Equinor’s 719MW Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon extensions off Norfolk.
The Crown Estate said the decision supports the government’s target of deploying up to 50GW total installed capacity in UK waters by 2030.
A plan level Habitats Regulations Assessment was undertaken to assess the effects of the Capacity Increase Programme on protected habitats. After this had been concluded, The Crown Estate recommended to the Secretary of State for Energy & Net Zero that the Programme should proceed on the basis of a derogation, with compensation measures to address the identified impacts on marine habitats and species.
This recommendation has been agreed by the Secretary of State.
In its recommendation, The Crown Estate maintained that proceeding with the capacity increases is in the national interest due to the contribution towards the UK’s 2030 clean power targets and the decarbonisation of the electricity grid by 2035.
CE marine managing director Gus Jaspert said: “Our purpose is to create lasting and shared prosperity for the nation. Offshore wind enables us to do that as a driver of economic growth through jobs creation and supply chain development. Delivering the Capacity Increase Programme is an effective way to provide up to four million homes with secure, clean energy and further decrease the UK’s reliance on fossil fuels, often sourced internationally.
“Balancing the needs of energy and nature is an important responsibility we carefully consider, and we’re confident in the environmental compensation measures which will accompany the delivery of the programme. As we look to the future, our leading and collaborative Marine Delivery Routemap will be well-placed to support prioritisation decisions and avoid nature impacts as much as possible.”
The offshore wind industry has welcomed today’s announcement from The Crown Estate. RenewableUK’s offshore wind environment and consents co-programme manager Kat Route-Stephens said: “This is a great step forward towards the Government’s target of clean power by 2030 as it maximises the amount of electricity we can generate from existing sites already leased by The Crown Estate, enabling us to power an extra four million British homes.
“This decision was only possible after a long and detailed assessment of the effects this increase could have on marine wildlife and ensuring suitable measures can be put in place by the offshore wind industry to address these impacts.
“We work closely with the Government, The Crown Estate and nature conservation bodies to safeguard our precious marine biodiversity while strengthening the UK’s energy security.”