The UK Crown Estate is set to boost the capacity of seven fixed-bottom offshore wind farms, with each project having existing infrastructure and grid connections.
Recently, the expansion of seven high-density wind farm projects based on current seabed leases has been given the green light by the sovereign’s public estate, a.k.a. the Crown Estate. Britain’s seabed is governed by the Crown Estate.
Among these projects are Rampion 2, found in the English Channel off the southern coast, and Dogger Bank B located off the east coast of Yorkshire.
What This Offshore Wind Boost Would Mean
The Crown Estate is set to add 4.7 gigawatts of capacity to seven existing wind farm projects through the Capacity Increase Programme.
Managing Director, Marine, at The Crown Estate, Gus Jaspert, referenced how offshore wind can drive economic growth with jobs creation and through developing supply chains.
According to Jaspert, the Capacity Increase Programme can prove an effective way to offer some four million homes reliable, clean energy. This is with the UK aiming for carbon-free electricity by 2030, having passed the 50% mark last year.
Challenges And Potential For Future Offshore Wind
The UK has around 30 gigawatts of total wind power capacity with 15 gigawatts for offshore wind and 15 gigawatts for onshore wind.
The UK’s offshore wind capacity is not far behind the national solar energy capacity which reached 17.2 gigawatts in October, while biomass and hydropower account for approximately 7.5 gigawatts of capacity.
Upcoming or proposed projects for offshore wind include:
- Shetland HVDC Link
- Eastern Green Links
- Irish-UK joint offshore wind ventures
- LionLink Interconnector
Projects like the LionLink Interconnector and Eastern Green Links serve the purpose of essentially more efficiently connecting to existing offshore wind farm projects, with the former focused on connecting Great Britain and the Netherlands.
While several projects look to improve the UK’s offshore wind capacity and ability to connect that electricity to the grid more efficiently, the sector faces challenges from supply chain issues and high inflation over the past few years.
That said, while global economic instability persists and recent years’ inflation continue to have impacts, the rate stood at around 2.6% this March, which is closer to the historical average.
How fast offshore wind capacity and connectivity can grow from here will depend on how a range of upcoming projects develop and whether inflation remains close to the figures it fell to in 2024 and where it remains currently.
A combination of new offshore wind farms and connecting wind farms more efficiently to the mainland can ultimately support the UK toward increasing energy self-reliance, lowering energy bills for consumers, and reducing carbon emissions with an aim of reaching carbon net zero by 2050.