Crown-owned seabed to be home to new windfarms

Centre of Sustainable Energy says move signifies UK government's seriousness in decarbonising energy system and “addressing its contribution to the climate crisis”

Seabed owned by the Crown Estate will house major new windfarm developments as part of a partnership with Labour's new publicly owned energy company, Great British Energy, set up to boost the UK’s clean energy mission.

The Crown Estate owns most of the seabed, which stretches up to 12 nautical miles from the mainland. It will lease Great British Energy (GB Energy) ample seabed to build offshore wind developments that could potentially supply 20-30GW of renewable energy, enough to power the equivalent of almost 20 million homes by 2030.

GB Energy aim to reduce the country’s overreliance on fossil fuels by investing in homegrown power and renewable energy projects. The government will offer £8.3 billion in state funding, paid for by a windfall tax on oil and gas giants, and hope to attract £60 billion in private investment.

The Conservatives said GB Energy is a “gimmick” that will end up costing families, rather than cutting bills, arguing that the real bottlenecks are connecting to the power grid. However, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “This innovative partnership…is an important step toward our mission for clean energy by 2030 and bringing down energy bills for good.” Ed Miliband, Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary said the initiative would “lead to lower bills” for households, but that “it’s not going to happen overnight”.

“Investing in clean power is the route to end the UK’s energy insecurity, and Great British Energy will be essential in this mission,” Miliband said. “The agreement…will lead to more investment, cleaner power, more energy security, and is a statement of intent that it will be a permanent and transformative institution for our country.”

Government officials say the Crown Estate’s participation will expedite the development of fixed and floating offshore windfarms and reduce the time it takes to get windfarms producing power – typically 10 to 15 years – by half.

“With new powers and by partnering with government, we can drive greater investment into this future for our country, and with it support nature recovery and job creation.”

Dan Labbad, Chief Executive of the Crown Estate said: “The Crown Estate exists to serve the national interest, including stewarding our natural resources to deliver a decarbonised, energy secure and sustainable future. With new powers and by partnering with government, we can drive greater investment into this future for our country, and with it support nature recovery and job creation.”

Dan Stone, Policy Officer at the Centre for Sustainable Energy said, “The partnership and the recent government commitment to increase renewable energy generation is a proper recognition of the true role renewable energy will have as the driving force of our future zero-carbon energy system. It's a welcome signal to the market of the UK government's seriousness in decarbonising our energy system and addressing its contribution to the climate crisis, and will no doubt encourage further private sector investment.

“A partnership between the Crown Estate and GB Energy would have the potential to significantly increase offshore wind generation, and benefit our energy security.”