Crown Estate to extend existing offshore wind leases to 50 years

The Crown Estate yesterday announced that it is willing to extend leases for offshore wind farm developers to up to 50 years, ending uncertainty over the future of some of the UK's older offshore wind developments.

The initial Round One wind farms were originally granted 22-year leases, the first of which are due to expire in the early 2020s, while the Round Two sites with a capacity of less than 500MW that are currently being built have leases lasting 40 years.

Developers have privately voiced concerns that leases of this duration could make it difficult for developers to justify investing in upgrading wind turbines when their 20- to 25-year lifespan comes to an end.

Now the Crown Estate, which owns and manages UK territorial waters, has said it will issue new lease options or leases to the affected projects, extending their leases to 50 years from the original starting date.

The estate said that the changes would allow sites boasting a combined capacity of 8GW of offshore wind capacity to operate for longer, providing the developers behind the projects continue to invest in the confidence that returns can be delivered for at least 50 years.

Rob Hastings, director of the marine estate at The Crown Estate, said the move underlined the organisation's commitment to the offshore wind industry. " This is an opportunity for our existing offshore wind operators to plan for the long-term future of their projects and to provide further confidence to the supply chain as we enter a period of rapid growth in the industry," he said.

His comments were echoed by Peter Madigan, offshore wind development manager at the British Wind Energy Association, who said that the extended leases underlined the commercial viability of the first-round sites. "The Round One developments were seen as an experimental phase, which is why they were given shorter leases," he explained. "The extended leases show that the sector is maturing and they are now a commercial proposition."