In a new update, the Crown Estate is now revealing the final planned locations of the new wind farms and announcing a multi-million pound program of marine surveys. 

Round 5 is expected to be the first phase of development in the Celtic Sea. And now up to 4.5GW is expected, rather than the 4GW that had previously been talked about. 

The latest update follows a period of engagement with developers and other stakeholders on the proposals put forward in July on how best to utilize the available space in the Celtic Sea. 

Since then, the Crown Estate has come up with three points: 

• Three Project Development Areas (PDAs) of roughly equal size are expected to be made available to bidders, as opposed to the previously proposed four PDAs of varying sizes
• No bidder will be able to secure an Agreement for Lease for more than one PDA
• As a result of bringing forward three equal-sized PDAs – each with a potential capacity of up to 1.5GW - the overall capacity available through Round 5 has increased from a possible 4GW to up to 4.5GW, enough to power more than 4 million homes

”At its heart, the Crown Estate exists to create value both now and for future generations, whether that’s helping tackle climate change and nature recovery or enabling economic growth,” says Gus Jaspert, managing director marine at Crown Estate.

”Through our role in managing the seabed, we want to catalyze the transition to Net Zero in the right way – driving the continued growth of new renewable technology such as floating offshore wind, while ensuring we support a thriving marine environment and create new social and economic opportunities.”

(Translated using DeepL with additional editing by Kristoffer Grønbæk)