Press Release
NEXT STEPS FOR OFFSHORE WIND ENERGY AND THE CROWN ESTATE
6 February 2008
Renewable energy is central to the government’s objectives to secure diverse energy supply and to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60% by 2050. The government has set a target to generate 10% of our electricity supply from renewable sources by 2010. With onshore windfarms already making a considerable contribution in the UK, there is opportunity for larger scale development offshore.
Offshore wind is an increasingly active area for The Crown Estate and approximately 1,400 sq. km of seabed has already been made available through two rounds of development. By efficiently harnessing the wind to generate electricity, these developments will play a major role in helping the UK government to deliver its targets. Currently 9 GW of offshore windfarm projects have agreements for development or operation from The Crown Estate and of this 3.5 GW is either operational or permitted for construction with the remaining 5.5 GW in various stages of development.
On 10 December 2007, John Hutton, Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR), announced a government target of 25 GW of offshore wind by 2020. The programme for the delivery of the additional generation capacity required by this new target is commonly referred to as ‘round 3’. The Crown Estate welcomes this ambitious objective of the UK government, and recognises the strategic importance that it represents to the UK’s energy mix.
To facilitate the round 3 programme, BERR is conducting a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). The SEA will assess plans for 25 GW of offshore wind generation capacity by 2020, in addition to existing plans for 9 GW of offshore wind. As landowner of the UK seabed The Crown Estate will be responsible for the facilitating delivering these offshore wind generation projects by providing security of the sites for development.
In response to the government targets, and aligned with the SEA process, The Crown Estate is preparing to implement a competitive programme ultimately leading to the leasing of seabed for construction and operation of offshore windfarms. It is intended that an invitation to register interest for offshore windfarm site development will be issued, followed by a pre-qualification process which will be held during 2008. We would expect that this will lead to the entry of operating leases for windfarms by 2013. Further details will be issued in the spring of this year.
Further Information
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