Crown Estate to Consult with Industry on New Leasing Round

As the Crown Estate is setting the stage for new offshore wind leasing, the authority governing the UK seabed will host a session with potential leasing process participants on 25 July, aiming to gather initial feedback from the industry.

At the session, the Crown Estate will provide an overview of its work over recent months to consider the potential scale, location and nature of any new seabed rights in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and invite feedback from developers that would potentially take part in the proposed process.

Jonny Boston, Senior Development Manager, The Crown Estate, said: “This event, alongside our discussions with statutory stakeholders, represents the next phase of our work to engage with a breadth of parties, as we consider the scale and location of any new leasing rights. It is an opportunity to share our current thinking and to invite feedback from interested developers, as we seek to balance a range of interests on the seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland.”

Engagement with statutory stakeholders is already underway, and will continue in parallel, the Crown Estate states, adding that further engagement with the industry and with wider stakeholders will follow later in the year.

The Crown Estate announced in November 2017 that it would be considering a process for awarding new seabed rights.

In February 2018, the authority provided an update on potential new offshore wind leasing to the Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC), a senior government and industry forum in the UK, presenting its early thinking in relation to the leasing model design, as well as the process of engagement with the offshore wind sector.

If confirmed, a new round of rights could begin in early 2019, maintaining a pipeline of projects through to the late 2020s and beyond to support both industry and government ambition for additional offshore wind capacity.