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An attempt by the King’s property group to secure floating offshore wind farms off the coast of Cornwall has fallen short, after fewer providers of the nascent technology signed up than hoped.
The Crown Estate sought providers for up to 4.5 gigawatts of power from areas of seabed in the Celtic Sea in an auction, but secured only 3GW.
A joint venture between EDF Renewables UK and Irish energy company ESB secured 1.5GW of capacity, while Norway’s state-owned energy giant Equinor took another 1.5GW — each enough to power 1.5mn homes.
Both groups will pay fees of £350 per MW per year for the rights to develop wind farms at the sites, a cut of up to 90 per cent compared with a similar auction in Scotland in 2022 and a further sign of the challenges facing the renewables sector.
Crown Estate chief executive Dan Labbad still described the auction as a “huge win” for the technology, which does not yet operate in British waters at scale.
Work was “under way on a range of options to deliver” the remaining 1.5GW, the estate said. Labbad said he was “confident that we’ll take that forward”.
“Given global turbulence at the moment, this announcement of 3GW of a new technology is a huge win.”
The offshore wind industry has been struggling with rising costs and supply chain strains, with some countries struggling to secure new capacity despite the role wind farms can play in cutting carbon dioxide emissions.
Floating offshore wind involves putting wind turbines on anchored platforms far out to sea where they often get better and more reliable wind speeds.
The technology is expensive and complicated and at an early stage globally, but may be necessary in countries that have limited space for turbines on land or those attached to the seabed.
Britain has developed a significant offshore wind industry using fixed-bottom turbines, but is keen to develop a floating offshore wind industry both for its own electricity needs and to develop jobs and industry.
The Crown Estate owns the seabed around England and Wales. Earlier this week it announced plans to invest £400mn in offshore wind supply chains, including ports and testing facilities.
Winning Celtic Sea developers will also need to get planning permission and government subsidy contracts. Labbad said projects could be up and running early in the next decade.
Its Celtic Sea leasing round follows the Crown Estate Scotland’s offshore wind leasing round in 2022, which awarded options for floating wind projects to developers including Scottish Power, Shell and SSE.
Equinor, one of the Celtic Sea lease winners, has pioneered the technology and developed the world’s first floating offshore wind farm, Hywind in Scotland.
Trine Borum Bojsen, senior vice-president for renewables in Europe at Equinor, said “the seabed lease offers the scalability and timing flexibility we seek and is a long-term option for Equinor’s renewables portfolio”.
Labbad added: “Awarding these rights puts the UK at the forefront of this technology. It means millions more homes will be supplied in future with renewable energy.”
