Regen welcomes the announcement of The Crown Estate’s leasing strategy for the Celtic Sea, including the identification of five ‘Areas of Search’ and an approach to phased development. This marks the start of the Celtic Sea leasing process and the unlocking of GWs of floating offshore wind on the West coast of the UK.
This statement was written by Grace Millman, part of Regen’s offshore energy team.
You may have missed it while sipping your coffee this morning, but the Crown Estate has just fired the starting gun for the development of floating wind in the Celtic Sea. Today’s announcement of its leasing strategy and identification of five ‘Areas of Search’ means that floating wind developers will now be able to formally scope projects and enter into a leasing process that should culminate in the award of 4 GW of projects leases in late 2023. Given the amount of interest already shown, and the number of big hitters who have set their sights on the Celtic Sea, we expect the competition to be intense, especially in Area 2.
Despite the competition, developers will have to work together, with the UK and Welsh governments, The Crown Estate, National Grid and regional stakeholders to ensure that project delivery is a success. That will require significant investment in grid infrastructure, port facilities and regional supply chain capability.
This leasing process must be matched by a strategic plan for ports and grid infrastructure. Work in these areas is already underway; next week we expect National Grid ESO to publish its first pass of a Holistic Network Design (HND) for offshore and onshore grid infrastructure. We will have to wait, however, until 2023 to see an updated version of the HND which encompasses the new 4 GW of Celtic Sea leases.
The Crown Estate’s leasing strategy is likely to result in the award of gigawatt-scale projects. The strategy also however includes support for a phased build-out, or ‘stepping stone’ approach, starting with 300 – 400 MW scale projects. This is a critical first step to enable regional ports and supply chains to scale up and ensure that there is an opportunity to drive down costs through learning and innovation. To make this approach work, developers will need to engage with regional partners, and industry, to fully develop their supply chain plans.
The indication, given by The Crown Estate, that there is scope for up to 20 GW of future floating wind capacity within the Celtic Sea area also sends a very important message, that should go some way to assure investors of the region’s long-term potential.
Some key takeaways from this morning’s announcement include:
Today marks the start of a period of intense activity for developers, and for regional stakeholders, and another key milestone in the long journey to develop offshore wind in the Celtic Sea.
