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Crown Estate boosts offshore wind projects

Capacity increases to use untapped seabed areas to add 4GW by 2030 
By Gavin Pearson

The Crown Estate is to expand the capacity of existing offshore windfarm projects. Its decision reflects the emergence of new technologies and larger capacity turbines that have proved successful since the sites gained consent. This improves the potential of previously unused seabed within each project area.

The move follows calls from offshore wind farm developers and could expand seven offshore windfarms already under development, putting 4GW towards the UK’s 2030 capacity targets.

The projects were awarded rights in Offshore Wind Leasing Round 3 of the 2017 Offshore Wind Extensions bidding round. They are: Awel y Môr, Dogger Bank D, Dudgeon Extension, Five Estuaries, North Falls, Rampion 2 and Sheringham Shoal Extension.

Crown Estate managing director Gus Jaspert explained: “These proposed capacity increases make use of seabed areas that have been previously granted rights, are not being fully utilised, and may have limited options for alternative uses. We are therefore pleased to launch a process to examine whether this additional capacity can be made available in a way which remains true to our commitment to nature and biodiversity.”

RenewableUK chief executive Dan McGrail added: “Utilising these areas of seabed to the full could add up to 4GW, which is more than a quarter of the UK’s current offshore wind capacity, representing a significant step forward.

“Accelerating deployment in this way would make projects even more cost-effective through economies of scale, which is good news for consumers as well as creating further opportunities for us to grow our supply chain.”

The UK is one of the most developed offshore wind markets in the world, which means many of the easiest and least costly offshore sites have already been developed. Ensuring that more difficult locations can also be exploited requires significant effort to maximise potential.

One way to do that is to capitalise on the UK’s highly developed offshore expertise.

Jaspert explained: “As demands on the seabed intensify, we’re taking a more strategic, holistic and data-led approach than ever before to ensure we make the most of this vital resource and that each area of the seabed we lease is working as hard as it can to contribute to the needs of our country and nature”.

The Crown Estate is already using a data-led approach to speed up consenting, a major hindrance to getting projects off the ground. It launched its new Offshore Wind Evidence and Knowledge Hub (OWEKH) in the summer, developed for the offshore wind sector with AtkinsRéalis.

OWEKH will enable developers, regulators, marine specialists and others to access data and documents from past activities. As a result, planning processes will have a base of information and evidence that can speed up the time it takes to gain project consent.

“The current consenting process often requires developers to start from scratch in knowledge-gathering,” said AtkinsRéalis project director for OWEKH Chris McDougall. “This can be expensive and lengthy. OWEKH will facilitate a valuable knowledge transfer, for instance, providing data on cetacean movements that may have already been captured. It can also provide a piece of best practice on analysis methodology.”

If successful, these efforts will boost the UK’s net zero ambitions. The latest Crown Office move is part of a wider programme to ensure the UK achieves 50GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030. That is a challenging target amid growing competition from other countries to attract offshore wind developers and investors.

Global competition and recent cost rises hit home in the offshore wind sector in September, when the UK’s Contract for Difference renewable energy auction failed to attract offshore wind farm bids. The government set a £44/MWh price cap for offshore wind bids, which was too low for developers to make a profit.

Inflation and supply chain issues were major reasons for the lack of developer interest as the wind power sector relies on energy-intensive materials like concrete and steel.

“These effects have combined to give the sector a supply chain inflation in the order of 20% to 40%, and that’s much higher than the roughly 10% inflation that the economy as a whole is seeing,” said Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit head of analysis Simon Cran-McGreehin.