Britain’s Crown Estate is moving ahead with its Capacity Increase Programme, designed to maximize the potential of existing offshore wind lease areas.
It could deliver an additional 4.7 GW of power through amending seabed rights to increase the capacity of seven fixed-bottom offshore wind farms around the shores of England and Wales.
Currently, the UK has close to 15 GW of offshore wind in production around its coasts.
The seven affected projects were awarded rights under either The Crown Estate’s Offshore Wind Leasing Round 3 or The Crown Estate’s 2017 Offshore Wind Extensions opportunity. All have existing grid connections and infrastructure, and they are within pre-established offshore wind sites.
They include Awel y Môr; Dudgeon Extension; Sheringham Shoal Extension; North Falls; Five Estuaries; Rampion 2; and Dogger Bank D.
An extensive plan level Habitats Regulations Assessment took place to determine the impacts of the Capacity Increase Programme on protected habitats. The Crown Estate then advised the UK Secretary of State for Energy & Net Zero that the program should proceed on the basis of a derogation, with compensation measures to address the identified impacts.
The Secretary of State has accepted the recommendation.
