UK's Crown Estate advances three floating offshore wind projects in Celtic Sea

Three floating wind projects in the Celtic Sea have been selected by the Crown Estate to progress to the next state of environmental assessment, the UK public body said July 27.

The projects, totaling 300 MW, have come through the Crown Estate's test and demonstration leasing program, designed to advance floating wind technology as the UK strives to hit a target of 1,000 MW installed by 2030.

"Not only do [projects like these] help support the commercialization of the market while bringing down costs, they are key to testing new designs, materials and construction methods while creating new opportunities for the regional supply chain," said the Crown Estate's Managing Director of Marine, Huub den Rooijen.

Selected to proceed to Habitats Regulations Assessment are the 100-MW Whitecross project off the coast of Devon and Cornwall, being developed by Offshore Wind Limited, (a joint venture of Cobra Instalaciones y Servicios, and Flotation Energy), and the Llyr 1 and Llyr 2 projects, (100 MW each), south of Pembroke on the Welsh coast, being developed by Floventis Energy (SBM Offshore and Cierco).

Subject to the outcome of habitat impact assessment, the applicants could then be granted seabed agreements for lease, the Crown Estate said.

The projects each test new foundation and mooring technologies, using new designs, materials and construction approaches.

Meanwhile, the Crown Estate said it continued to work on a new leasing opportunity for early commercial-scale floating wind projects in the Celtic Sea. This would focus on larger projects of around 300 MW each in scale.

Together with Blue Gem's Erebus project and TwinHub's project at the WaveHub site, the three 100-MW projects could quadruple the capacity of floating wind development in the Celtic Sea to over 400 MW.

Global floating wind capacity is expected to grow from 74 MW today to 126 MW by the end of 2021 on completion of the 50-MW Kincardine wind farm in Scotland. The project is being developed by Pilot Offshore Renewables (PORL), a joint venture of MacAskill Associates and Renewable Energy Ventures.

Commenting on the Crown Estate's announcement, sector association RenewableUK's Director of Future Electricity Systems Barnaby Wharton said floating wind "can repeat the success of fixed-foundation offshore wind by becoming subsidy-free within a decade," providing a GBP230 million ($317 million) per year global market opportunity for UK exporters by 2031.