The Crown Estate “intends to confirm” plans for a new offshore wind leasing round in UK waters that has the potential to support up to 6GW of new projects.
The seabed landlord said it is running a second phase of consultations for the now officially branded Round 4, after which it will lock down the scheme.
“This could be launched in the early part of 2019, maintaining a pipeline of projects through to the late 2020s and beyond,” the leasing agency added.
A latest round of consultations with stakeholders, the market and for the first time a wider non-statutory group of stakeholders will include “updated” proposals for the lease round for site of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
“The updated plans will include further details on the regions where The Crown Estate proposes to offer new seabed rights, which have been reviewed and refined with statutory stakeholders over the course of the summer, as well as further details on the proposed tender design.”
A market session will be held on 26 November with further details to follow while stakeholder engagement will run in parallel.
Feedback from the first round was “positive”, the seabed landlord added.
The market backed the 6GW plan, the proposed developer-led leasing model and plans to share seabed data on sites.
Market participants also provided detailed feedback on a range of other subjects, including the scale and frequency of new leasing, spatial considerations, size and type of projects and timeline to tender.
Senior development manager Jonny Boston said: “We’ve seen a really encouraging response to our proposals for new leasing, demonstrating continued confidence in the UK as a brilliant place to invest in offshore wind.
“As we progress our proposed tender design, we’ll continue to work closely with the market and stakeholders to ensure that new rights provide an attractive and competitive offer, whilst ensuring we balance a range of interests on the seabed, helping deliver the UK’s transition to a low-carbon energy mix.”