Wind Power: Seas and Oceans

(asked on 8th March 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what advice his Department and its predecessor departments have provided to the Crown Estate on the design of the bidding process used in the Round 4 auction of seabed leasing rights, since the conclusion of Round 3 in 2010.


Answered by
Anne-Marie Trevelyan Portrait
Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This question was answered on 11th March 2021

As manager of the seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland, The Crown Estate is responsible for the award of leases for new and existing offshore wind projects, including the current Round 4 exercise. The Crown Estate works independently of government under the mandate set out in the Crown Estate Act 1961. The Government has not made any assessment on the effectiveness of the bidding process used by Crown Estate to lease seabed development rights for offshore (a) wind and (b) other renewable energy projects on the UKCS. The latest Round 4 seabed leasing round has resulted in six new potential offshore wind projects totalling nearly 8GW.

BEIS was not involved in the design of the bidding process for the Round 4 seabed leasing.

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