UK Continues Offshore Wind Expansion With 6 GW Leasing Round Planned For Early 2027
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
The Crown Estate has unveiled plans for the UK’s Offshore Wind Leasing Round 6 to be held in the first half of 2027, targeting the development of at least 6 GW of new capacity.
These three paragraphs add some details.
The upcoming leasing process will focus on areas primarily located in the northeast of England. The sites are expected to be suitable for fixed-bottom offshore wind projects and will be brought forward following market and stakeholder engagement, including the National Energy System Operator’s (NESO) strategic plans for energy and for electricity networks, which will inform the exact capacity of the upcoming leasing round and refine specific site details and locations.
The Crown Estate said on 26 March that it had begun a programme of market engagement ahead of the official launch of a new leasing round, and is seeking market views on commercial approaches to the leasing round “to understand the potential viability and market appetite.”
The UK seabed manager said that it had also identified other areas of seabed opportunity across the South West, Wales and other regions which may form the basis of subsequent leasing rounds through the Crown Estate’s new seabed management tool, the Marine Delivery Routemap, which is being used for the first time in Round 6.
In Renewable Power By 2030 In The UK, I calculated how much offshore wind could be commissioned up to 2030.
These were my results.
This gives these yearly totals, if I use pessimistic dates.
- 2025 – 1,235 MW
- 2026 – 4,807 MW
- 2027 – 5,350 MW
- 2028 – 4,998 MW
- 2029 – 9,631 MW
- 2030 – 15,263 MW
This adds up to a total of 58,897 MW.
But This Doesn’t Include Round 5 Or Round 6!
But the article on offshoreWIND.biz does, say this about Round 5.
The Crown Estate’s previous leasing round, Round 5, focused on floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea, covering areas off South Wales and South West England and targeting up to 4.5 GW of capacity. The round awarded seabed rights to Equinor, Gwynt Glas, and Ocean Winds, with individual project development areas of up to 1.5 GW. Agreements for lease were recently signed for all three Round 5 sites.
The article also indicates that 6 GW can be expected from Round 6.
Which gives a total of 69,397 MW or 69.4 GW.
No wonder the UK Government can back the steel industry, with press releases like this UK Steel Industry Backed By Major New Trade Measure And Strategy.
Lots of renewable energy, is the new rich!
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