Britain awards floating offshore wind leases to Equinor and Gwynt Glas

By Susanna Twidale

LONDON, June 19 (Reuters) - Equinor EQNR.OL and Gwynt Glas have won seabed leases to build floating wind farms in the Celtic Sea off the coast of Wales and South West England, the Crown Estate said on Thursday.

The Crown Estate, which acts as manager of the seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland, said Equinor and Gwynt Glas had won leases giving them the rights each to build 1.5 gigawatt (GW) projects. Gwynt Glas is a joint venture between EDF Renewables UK and Irish energy company ESB.

Britain, which is aiming to largely decarbonise its electricity sector by 2030 to cut its reliance on fossil fuels, is seeking to increase offshore wind capacity to 43-50 GW by the end of the decade, from around 16 GW.

“Floating offshore wind will be transformative for economic growth in Wales and the South West, unlocking thousands of jobs in places like Port Talbot and Bristol, bolstering our energy security and delivering industrial renewal,” Britain’s Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said.

The companies will pay 350 pounds ($468.55) per megawatt per year for the leases for a ten-year option period, meaning both groups will pay 525,000 pounds per year for the sites, excluding VAT.

Floating wind projects can be installed in deeper waters than fixed-bottom foundations, harnessing stronger and more continuous wind to generate more power.

"With the areas' deeper waters, we believe there is future potential for floating wind to play a role in unlocking the UK’s journey towards net zero," Melissa Read, Equinor’s Head of Regional Development UK said in a separate statement.

The projects will now go through the consenting process, which can take three to five years and could become fully operational in the early 2030s.

A total of 4.5 GW of leases were available and the Crown Estate said details of the remaining 1.5 GW of leases would be given shortly.

Wind power, both on and offshore, was Britain's largest source of electricity last year providing around 30% of the country's power.

The Crown Estate is an independently run, commercial business, whose profits go to the Treasury but are also used as the benchmark for the level of public funding for the Royal Family.

($1 = 0.7470 pounds)