The Crown Estate (TCE) has recently announced the opening of its Leasing Round 4 for Offshore Wind deployment. The announcement offers developers an opportunity to secure seabed rights for new projects off the coast of England and Wales, with at least 7GW and a maximum of 8.5GW of capacity being made available.
TCE has selected four potential areas for deployment, with an aim of utilising at least three of these areas. The selected areas are Dogger Bank, Eastern Regions, South West and Northern Wales/Irish Sea.
Figure 1: The four Crown Estate bidding areas
Developers have been given the freedom to choose their preferred site within each of the selected locations and are able to bid for sites which are large enough to support projects up to a maximum capacity of 1.5GW.
Each of the selected areas are limited to 3.5GW, with a minimum capacity of 400MW being required from an individual project. Dogger Bank is an exception with projects having a minimum capacity requirement of 600MW.
These requirements ensure that at least five projects are awarded seabed rights, with a maximum potential of eighteen projects securing approval.
Seabed rights are awarded to successful developers for 60 years, an increase from 50 years awarded under the previous leasing round. With the planning, construction and decommissioning phases lasting up to 5 years for an offshore wind farm, the increase in the duration of lease rights ensures that developers are able to utilise two entire project lifecycles under the leasing agreement.
Leasing Round 4 has provided incentives to encourage developers to utilise innovative technology. Such innovative technologies, including integration with interconnectors and other renewable energy generators, are eligible to receive rental discounts under the Leasing Round 4 framework. Developers that plan on incorporating innovative technologies within their bid can receive up to 50% rental discounts on up to 10% of the installed capacity of their site.
The Leasing Round 4 application process started in October 2019 and will run until Autumn 2021. The key dates to note are;
- Pre-qualification Questionnaire: October 2019 “ January 2020
- Invitation to Tender Stage 1: February 2020 “ June 2020
- Invitation to Tender Stage 2: September 2020
- Plan “ Level Habitats Regulations Assessment: Autumn 2020 “ Summer 2021
- Agreement for Lease: Autumn 2021
More details on the tender process and requirements can be found within The Crown EstateInformation Memorandum.
The recent publication of Marine Scotland’s Sectoral Marine Planning (SMP)draft documentcontained encouraging news for developers looking to participate in Crown Estate Scotland’s (CES) ScotWind seabed leasing programme.
ScotWind was previously scheduled to launch in October 2019 and was to follow a similar timeline to that of the tendering process for The Crown Estate Leasing Round 4. The launch has since been delayed to coincide with the adoption of the SMP.
The consultation period for the SMP closes on 25thMarch 2020, with the formal adoption of the SMP by the Scottish Government expected to follow soon after that date.
Although the formal timetable has yet to be published for Scotwind, the closing date for applications to Scotwind will be at least one month after the adoption of the SMP by the Scottish Government.
Developers will have the opportunity to bid for seabed rights within seventeen potential areas which have the capacity for the deployment of up to 10GW of offshore wind generation.
ScotWind has also released plans to launch the second cycle of leasing approximately two years after completion of the first cycle.
