An expansion programme is set to provide “up to four million homes with secure, clean energy and further decrease the UK’s reliance on fossil fuels”.
In July 2024, publicly-owned energy company Great British Energy announced it would build up to 20-30GW of new offshore wind developments that will reach seabed lease stage by 2030.
To do this it has formed a partnership with the Crown Estate, which ostensibly belongs to the monarchy and owns large swathes of the seabed around the British Isles. This partnership will ensure that future offshore wind development has a “lower risk for developers” that should enable projects to be built out faster after leasing and crowding in private sector investment.
The Crown Estate has now announced it has granted an additional 4.7GW of offshore wind generation capacity in and around England and Wales.
This will be provided through the Capacity Increase Programme, which aims to amend existing seabed rights and maximise the potential of existing offshore...