Future offshore wind on the seabed around England and Wales

Description

The Crown Estate, as managers of the seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland, will publish on 11 September 2024 a report that set out early thinking on bringing forward the next generation of offshore wind leasing in England and Wales. The report, entitled ‘Future of Offshore Wind: Considerations for future development and leasing to 2030 and Beyond’ will be published on https://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/our-business/marine/offshore-wind. Through this Prior Information Notice, The Crown Estate wishes to bring this publication to existing or potential offshore windfarm developers’ attention and seek their views by way of early market engagement. Lot 1: As referenced at section II.1.4 above, The Crown Estate, as managers of the seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland, will publish on 11 September 2024 a report that sets out early thinking on bringing forward the next generation of offshore wind leasing in England and Wales. The report, entitled ‘Future of Offshore Wind: Considerations for future development and leasing to 2030’, will be published on https://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/our-business/marine/offshore-wind. As with previous leasing rounds (e.g. Offshore Wind Leasing Rounds 4 and 5) The Crown Estate will engage with a variety of stakeholders to shape the design of leasing rounds. This includes offshore windfarm project developers and, upon publication of the reports, The Crown Estate will issue a digital questionnaire to the established single point of contact at known developer companies. If other offshore wind project development and investment companies wish to participate in this engagement, then they should apply by writing an email to communications@thecrownestate.co.uk from their company email account. We reserve the right to engage with only developer companies [i.e those who may be interested in bidding in a leasing round, either as a sole bidder or as part of a consortium]. The Crown Estate will engage with other categories of stakeholder at appropriate times and in an appropriate way. The Crown Estate is in the early stages of designing future offshore wind leasing rounds, which this questionnaire will inform, and there is currently no formal date for the launch of the procurement which may consist of one or more leasing rounds. Therefore the date set out in section II.3 below (“Estimated date of publication of contract notice”) refers to the publication of the report and questionnaire, rather than the contract notice for any subsequent leasing tender process. For further information on The Crown Estate’s involvement in offshore wind please visit https://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/our-business/marine/offshore-wind. Additional information: This PIN does not refer to any specific tender process so please not that the dates of 11 September to 4 October 2024 refers to the publication date of the questionnaire, related report and the end date for responding to the questionnaire, rather than a contract notice publication date for any subsequent leasing tender process.