The Crown Estate has begun an option fee auction to allocate up to 8500MW of offshore wind development areas off England and Wales to preferred bidders, as part of its delayed Round 4 leasing programme.
The multi-cycle bid process could take between one and four weeks to conclude.
The process was initially due to take place last year but was pushed into early 2021 when the Crown Estate published a revised timeline for the round last October.
The option fee auction will allocate between 7GW and 8.5GW.
“In line with that published timeline, we are currently preparing to move into the final stage of the Round 4 tender process,” The Crown Estate said in an update on the round.
The Crown Estate did not provide an exact date for when the bidding cycles will begin and said it will not comment on the outcome of individual bid cycles until it has allocated at least 7GW of new projects.
Developers can bid to secure projects between 400MW and 1.5GW in four zones: off North Wales and Irish Sea, on the Dogger Bank, off East Anglia and Lincolnshire and off the South East in the English Channel.
A maximum of 3.5GW in new projects can be awarded in any one area.
“It is not possible to confirm in advance how long the bidding process will take.
“The capacities of each of the successful project bids will determine how quickly we reach 7GW and thus how long the process takes to complete,” the seabed landlord said.
“However, as a guide we anticipate it will take between one and four weeks.”
Once the awards have been announced, all Round 4 projects will progress to the next stage of the process known as a Plan-Level Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA), which is due to run from spring 2021 to spring 2022.
The HRA evaluates the potential impacts of Round 4 on the network of protected areas covering the UKs most valuable species and habitats and must be completed before the Crown Estate inks agreements for lease with successful bidders in 2022.