Making space offshore: what Project Anemone means for the UK’s energy future

The seabed around the UK is under increasing pressure. It plays a critical role in delivering the country’s climate ambitions, strengthening energy security, and supporting economic growth. From offshore wind to carbon capture and established oil and gas activity, more sectors than ever rely on this shared space - and must learn to operate effectively alongside one another.

That is the challenge at the heart of Project Anemone.

Established through the Offshore Wind and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Co-location Forum in partnership with Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) and supported by industry, Project Anemone set out to better understand how offshore wind, carbon storage and oil and gas projects can successfully coexist in an increasingly busy marine environment. The project focused not on new technologies, but on how decisions are made in practice - across planning, consenting and delivery - and where coordination can be improved.

The resulting, and newly published, report brings together insights from developers, regulators, seabed managers and industry bodies, gathered through interviews and workshops across the three sectors. A clear message emerges: while co-location and coexistence are achievable, they work best when potential interactions are identified early and there is sufficient time and visibility for meaningful engagement.

Developers highlighted that challenges often arise not from fundamental incompatibility between sectors, but from timing, coordination and lack of early clarity.

Where overlaps emerge late in project lifecycles, they can create unnecessary cost, delay and uncertainty - particularly once major design or investment decisions have been made.

In response, Project Anemone identifies a set of practical, cross-sector recommendations to support better collaboration offshore. These include:

• Earlier and more structured engagement between sectors before key decisions are taken

• Improved visibility of potential overlaps ahead of offshore wind leasing and project commitments

• Clearer articulation of seabed priorities at a strategic level

• Greater coordination between regulators and more collaborative approaches to data and evidence

• The creation of regional forums to enable ongoing dialogue and shared problem-solving

Importantly, while each sector operates within different regulatory and commercial frameworks, the project finds strong common ground on the need for earlier coordination, better information sharing and more consistent approaches.

The Crown Estate welcomes the report as a valuable contribution to the ongoing development of offshore energy in the UK. Its findings reinforce the importance of collaboration and align closely with a number of initiatives already underway.

These include the Marine Delivery Routemap - a digital tool designed to support long-term, evidence-based marine planning - and the Offshore Wind and CCS Co-location Forum, which The Crown Estate chairs to bring together government, regulators and industry partners. Alongside this, work is ongoing with Crown Estate Scotland and the North Sea Transition Authority to improve alignment and data sharing across sectors, helping ensure decisions are informed by the best available information.

The Crown Estate also continues to work directly with customers to explore the practical implications of co-location at each stage of the project lifecycle, sharing insights and lessons to support the wider sector.

As offshore activity continues to expand, making the most of the seabed as a shared national asset will be essential. Project Anemone provides an important evidence base to support this, helping to ensure that different technologies can develop alongside one another - and that the UK can deliver its energy ambitions in a coordinated, efficient and sustainable way.