De-risking and accelerating developments

With the seabed facing more demands than ever, we have evolved our approach to help de-risk the delivery of Round 5 Projects and to accelerate their deployment.

We have taken a number of steps to create a fair, objective and transparent leasing process, including:

• A spatial design for the three PDAs agreed with UK Government and developed through close engagement with other seabed users and in response to market feedback

• Increased certainty for Bidders ahead of the tender process, plus meeting our objective to protect the needs of the environment, by carrying out an upfront Plan-Level Habitats Regulations Assessment in tandem with the spatial design

• Providing Bidders with valuable data and helping them take early decisions and better manage risk through a major programme of technical and environmental pre-consent surveys – technical specifications for which can be found on our Marine Data Exchange

• Working closely with National Grid ESO by providing spatial design information to inform their recommendation for grid design

• A fair, objective and transparent leasing process to attract long-term market interest into the UK’s floating offshore wind industry