Crown Estate Launches Major Drive to Expand Offshore Wind Capacity Across UK Waters

The Crown Estate has greenlit its ambitious capacity expansion plan to unlock the full potential of existing seabed leases across seven UK wind farms. This bold step solidifies earlier requests from developers awarded rights during the Crown Estate’s offshore leasing Round 3 and the 2017 Extensions round.

With today’s announcement, the capacity at these projects will surge by an additional 4.7 GW, marking a significant leap in offshore wind power potential. The expansion includes major arrays like RWE’s 1.1GW Awel y Mor off the coast of Wales, the 1.2GW Rampion 2 off the south of England, and Equinor’s 719MW Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon extensions in Norfolk.

This strategic move aligns with the UK government’s ambitious target of achieving up to 50GW of installed capacity in UK waters by 2030, an essential goal for the country’s green energy future.

A comprehensive Habitats Regulations Assessment was conducted to evaluate the impact of the Capacity Increase Programme on protected marine habitats. With this review complete, The Crown Estate recommended to the Secretary of State for Energy & Net Zero that the Programme proceed, albeit with necessary derogations and compensatory measures to mitigate any identified environmental effects.

The Secretary of State has agreed with the recommendation, clearing the way for the expansion to proceed.

The Crown Estate emphasised that this decision isn’t just a win for the environment—it’s a national priority. By enhancing offshore wind capacity, the UK moves closer to meeting its 2030 clean power targets and significantly reducing reliance on fossil fuels, particularly those imported from abroad.

CE Marine Managing Director Gus Jaspert said: “Our purpose is to create lasting and shared prosperity for the nation. Offshore wind enables us to do that as a driver of economic growth through jobs creation and supply chain development. Delivering the Capacity Increase Programme effectively provides up to four million homes with secure, clean energy. Further, it decreases the UK’s reliance on fossil fuels, often sourced internationally.

“Balancing the needs of energy and nature is an important responsibility we carefully consider, and we’re confident in the environmental compensation measures which will accompany the delivery of the programme. As we look to the future, our leading and collaborative Marine Delivery Routemap will be well-placed to support prioritisation decisions and avoid nature impacts as much as possible.”

The offshore wind industry has welcomed today’s announcement from The Crown Estate. RenewableUK’s offshore wind environment and consents co-programme manager Kat Route-Stephens said: “This is a great step forward towards the Government’s target of clean power by 2030 as it maximises the amount of electricity we can generate from existing sites already leased by The Crown Estate, enabling us to power an extra four million British homes.  

“This decision was only possible after a long and detailed assessment of the effects this increase could have on marine wildlife and ensuring suitable measures can be put in place by the offshore wind industry to address these impacts.

“We work closely with the Government, the Crown Estate and nature conservation bodies to safeguard our precious marine biodiversity while strengthening the UK’s energy security.”