The Crown Estate has signed deals with four energy companies to build offshore wind farms that could help decarbonise the UK's energy grid.
The proceeds from the wind farms - estimated to be around £1bn per year - will be used for the “wider public good”, rather than as a funding boost for the monarchy, the King has announced.
The deals have been struck between the Crown Estate and companies including BP, Total and Germany’s RWE, and were greenlit by then-business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng in July 2022.
The leases have now been signed for the six wind farms, which have a generation capacity of 8 gigawatts (GW). Three of the projects are off the coast of North Wales, Cumbria and Lancashire and the other three are in the North Sea, off Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.
The Crown Estate – an ancient portfolio of land and property – belongs to the reigning monarch ‘in right of The Crown’ but it is not their private property. The monarch surrenders the revenue...