UK: Huge offshore projects in the pipeline

The Crown Estate has announced agreements with offshore wind developers ScottishPower Renewables, Vattenfall and DONG Energy, which have reconfigured or identified new projects within their respective Round 3 offshore wind development zones. 

Since the award of zone agreements in 2009, developers have had exclusive rights to areas of UK seabed to identify the best locations to develop large scale offshore wind projects. With this appraisal phase now largely complete, developer focus is shifting to the development and delivery of the resulting projects. 

As announced in 2014, The Crown Estate has offered streamlined terms for project specific ‘agreements for lease’ (AfLs), alongside the hand-back of seabed rights for the remaining parts of the zone which are no longer required. 

An overview of the agreements reached is set out below: 

• DONG Energy has concluded an appraisal process to reconfigure its Hornsea Zone projects, following its acquisition of the remainder of the zone from Mainstream Renewable Power and Siemens Financial Services in 2015. The resulting projects are Hornsea Project Two, Hornsea Project Three and Hornsea Project Four. The previously identified Hornsea Project Three has been split into two separate projects: Hornsea Project Three, to the east of Hornsea Project Two, and Hornsea Project Four, to the west. This follows DONG Energy’s recent announcement of reaching the Final Investment Decision for the 1.2 GW Hornsea Project One in early February 2016. 
• Following ScottishPower Renewables and Vattenfall’s announcement in August 2015 to independently take forward projects within the East Anglia Zone, both organisations have now concluded their joint zone related activities.  
• ScottishPower Renewables is developing the 714 MW East Anglia ONE project, which reached Final Investment Decision in February. East Anglia THREE is also in development, with a capacity of up to 1.2 GW.  ScottishPower Renewables will also take forward two new projects: East Anglia TWO (up to 800 MW) and East Anglia ONE North (up to 800 MW). 
• Vattenfall is taking forward two projects in the northern part of the previous East Anglia zone area. Each project will have a target capacity of 1.8 GW. One of the projects, currently known as Tranche 1, includes parts of the seabed previously identified as East Anglia FOUR. 

Huub den Rooijen, Director of Energy, Minerals & Infrastructure at The Crown Estate said: “Today’s announcements are another important step for the offshore wind sector on its path to becoming a large-scale, affordable and reliable power source. With the industry on track to supply 10% of the UK’s electricity demand by 2020, these infrastructure projects will contribute to its continued growth into the 2020s.”