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Updates on Round 4 leasing

By: Tom Russell 16/11/2018 The Crown Estate

General Turbines Windfarms

The Crown Estate has shared its updated proposals for Round 4 offshore wind leasing in the UK. The updates include The Crown Estate’s proposed refinement of available seabed regions – within which developers would have the opportunity to identify and propose sites.

To reach this point, The Crown Estate has undertaken spatial analysis of technical resource and constraints, including other sea users and environmental sensitivities, through a combination of Geographic Information System (GIS) and qualitative analysis.

A total of Five regions have been proposed by The Crown Estate to be included in a new leasing round. These regions were selected on the basis that they are technically feasible, include sufficiently large areas of available seabed for offshore wind development and have lower levels of development constraint.

A further four regions have been highlighted by The Crown Estate which is states could be taken forward for further consideration. It stated that additional work is required to build the evidence base and engage with technical stakeholders about these areas, in order to better understand the seabed resource and constraints and confirm their inclusion.

Nine regions that will not be taken forward as part of Round 4, on the basis that they are impacted by significant development constraints, which would be challenging to mitigate.

The analysis that underpins the regions refinement work will be published later this month, including: a Methodology Report, GIS model outputs, associated draft Characterisation Reports for each of the nine regions being taken forward at this stage and an Interim Summary Stakeholder Feedback Report.

Other updates to The Crown Estate’s Round 4 proposals include:

· Capacity likely to be increased from 6GW to 7GW, in light of strong market appetite and the desire to ensure a sufficient pipeline is in place.
· Available regions to be extended from 50m to 60m water depths, after feedback from industry confirmed appetite for development of fixed foundation turbines beyond the 50m initially proposed.
· Following statutory stakeholder feedback, The Crown Estate is also commissioning additional work on key issues of uncertainty, including further assessments on marine protected area sensitivities, ornithology and visibility analysis.

As plans progress, The Crown Estate stated it will continue to engage with technical stakeholders and build the evidence base on the nine regions being taken forward at this stage. This will enable it to finalise the regions to be offered to market, ahead of confirming the launch of Round 4, and later, help to inform developers in their identification of sites.

An engagement event with the market will take place on 26 November, at which The Crown Estate stated it will share further detail on the proposed tender design. Registration for this event, which is targeted at potential leasing process participants, is open until 21st November.

For more information on offshore wind farm developments worldwide, click here.

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Updates on Round 4 leasing

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