An ambitious vision for how the UK’s seabed can continue to support the accelerated delivery of nature recovery and the transition to clean energy has been set out by The Crown Estate, which manages the seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Amid increasing demand on the seabed from sectors critical to the UK economy, The Crown Estate has been working with stakeholders to develop initial plans for a ground-breaking Marine Delivery Routemap.

By working with others to create a holistic and long-term view of how the seabed is used, The Crown Estate hopes to achieve a number of important benefits, including:

• Providing visibility and certainty for developers across a wide range of sectors, helping boost market confidence and attract international investment;

• Identifying new areas for biodiversity and nature restoration;

• Accelerating the delivery of offshore renewables, helping address current pinch-points such as consenting and grid connections; and

• Supporting the economic development and prosperity of onshore communities, by enabling a long-term view of the investment needed for key enablers like skills, ports and supply-chain. 

The development of a Routemap was one of the key recommendations published in last year’s independent report from Electricity Networks Commissioner Nick Winser. It builds on The Crown Estate’s world-leading expertise in spatial mapping and digital capabilities, which received a global Esri award for geospatial innovation in July this year.

In developing the Marine Delivery Routemap, The Crown Estate is working with partners across a wide range of agencies and sectors with a view to enabling the seabed to support the growth of key industries alongside the creation of thriving biodiversity and marine environments.

This is an ongoing process. As The Crown Estate continues to build the Routemap it intends to work with partners to produce a series of sector-specific updates, looking at how they can evolve over the years ahead.

This begins with offshore wind and a consultation published today alongside the Routemap. It is expected to be followed with reports on nature, carbon capture and other sectors.

A new generation of offshore wind

The UK is a world-leader in offshore wind, with the current pipeline standing at approximately 95 gigawatts (GW), including almost 15GW already operational.

To support the accelerated delivery of clean energy infrastructure in the UK, Great British Energy and The Crown Estate recently announced a new partnership which will utilise the strengths of both organisations to bring to market an additional 20-30GW of offshore wind leasing opportunity by 2030 – enough power for almost 20 million homes.

The Crown Estate has published its thinking on the Future of Offshore Wind  on behalf of the Great British Energy: The Crown Estate partnership. This report sets out its approach to leasing this additional capacity for delivery out to 2040 in support of the UK’s net zero and energy security ambitions. It is seeking input and feedback from industry and wider stakeholders to help shape its approach to seabed leasing.

Much of the new offshore wind capacity is expected to be in areas of the Celtic Sea, which lies off the coasts of South Wales and South West England, and North East England. A number of smaller projects are also likely off the coasts of North Wales, North West England, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. The precise approach to development remains under consideration but is expected to include a mix of fixed and floating foundations.

The Future of Offshore Wind report also set out proposals to further de-risk the opportunity for developers and accelerate the deployment of new windfarms.

In addition, the new report sets out further details on how The Crown Estate could play a greater role in investing to support enabling infrastructure to allow the accelerated delivery of offshore wind projects. This follows legislation brought forward in the King’s Speech, currently being debated by Parliament, to modernise The Crown Estate’s borrowing and investment powers, alongside the new partnership with Great British Energy.

Gus Jaspert, Managing Director, Marine at The Crown Estate, said: “Our seabed has the potential to re-power and regenerate the UK – to a flourishing marine environment, a green energy transition and create jobs and opportunities across the country. With increasing demands and pressures offshore, we need a forward plan to release the true potential of our seas. Our plans for a Marine Delivery Routemap mark an important step towards a more coordinated, long-term approach to managing the increasing demands off our coast in partnership with a range of industries and stakeholders.

“In addition, our evolving approach to offshore wind development is designed to help remove some of the barriers to deployment of important new renewable energy and provide more certainty to investors. We look forward to engaging with our partners as we move these plans forward in the national interest.”

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: “We are on a mission to deliver clean power by 2030, with the UK’s world-leading offshore wind industry playing a key role in getting us there.

“The sustainability of our seabed is critical to securing the UK’s energy independence alongside protecting the environment, so I welcome the ambitious plans set out by The Crown Estate.

“Our groundbreaking partnership between Great British Energy and The Crown Estate will not only be instrumental in supporting this vision for the UK’s seabed, but it will also help leverage up to £60 billion of investment for our clean power mission – delivering homegrown energy and generating skilled jobs across Britain.”

RenewableUK’s Chief Executive Dan McGrail said: “Providing long-term visibility on the details of future offshore wind leasing rounds as early as possible will help to further increase confidence in the long-term stability of the UK’s world-leading offshore wind market, potentially leading to billions of pounds of additional private investment in the decades ahead.

“This will enable us to boost economic growth, strengthen Britain’s energy security, build up our supply chain and create tens of thousands of new jobs. The industry is fully committed to building projects in an environmentally sensitive way which protects and enhances our rich marine biodiversity and continues to take account of the needs of other seabed users.

“The Crown Estate’s role is evolving significantly and the vision set out in its Future of Offshore Wind report will help all partners to work together more closely to make the most of our terrific marine resources, as well as enabling the industry to ramp up the delivery of vital new projects faster.” 

Fintan Slye, Executive Director of the Electricity Systems Operator (ESO), said: “We welcome this publication from The Crown Estate. It is essential to have a long-term view of all seabed demands as we perform our role in electricity network planning in support of achieving clean power for Great Britain. 

“We are already working closely with The Crown Estate, as demonstrated by our recent collaboration on the leasing round for floating offshore wind currently underway in the Celtic Sea. The Routemap set out today is another step in ensuring that we can collectively accelerate deployment of the offshore renewables needed to support Great Britain’s future grid – one of the fastest decarbonising in the world.” 

Dr Gemma Harper OBE, Chief Executive at Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), said: “All life on Earth is dependent on a healthy and resilient global ocean. It is vitally important in providing oxygen, regulating the climate and providing solutions to climate breakdown. Marine life has intrinsic value; and humanity is dependent on the water, food, shelter, materials and medicine provided by the ocean.   

“The ocean is under increasing, accelerating and cumulative pressures from human activity, ranging from impacts of greenhouse gas emissions, habitat loss, over-exploitation and pollution.  It is therefore essential that we work collaboratively to understand, value and integrate the UK’s marine environment into decisions that affect both our seas and the wider ocean.

“We welcome the clear focus being placed on nature by The Crown Estate in the development of its Marine Delivery Routemap. The Routemap advances the critical discussion of how we value and integrate the marine environment with the many sectors with an interest in the seabed, ensuring its use is sustainable now and for future generations.” 

Richard Ballantyne, Chief Executive at British Ports Association, said: “Ports are vitally important in enabling much of the offshore activity which supports sectors key to driving the UK economy forward. Continued investment in their infrastructure and associated supply chain will be crucial for progressing the clean energy transition, particularly offshore wind development, so we welcome The Crown Estate’s Marine Delivery Routemap and Future of Offshore Wind publications which recognise this. We look forward to working with The Crown Estate alongside other stakeholders in supporting its approach to plan holistically for how the seabed is used in future, representing the interests of our member ports.”

The recommendations contained in the report will now form the basis of engagement with developers, wider industry and stakeholders to determine the best approach to move forward.