Leasing deals agreed for two floating wind farms

LEASING agreements for two huge floating wind farms in the Celtic Sea with the potential to power millions of homes with clean energy have been struck.

- SION BARRY Business editor

Norwegian energy venture Equinor and Gwynt Glas a joint venture between EDF power solutions and Irish Government-owned ESB - have both entered into lease deals with owner of the seabed, the Crown Estate, for their respective 1.5 gigawatt (GW) floating wind farm schemes.

The project from Gwynt Glas is solely in Welsh waters off the coast of Pembrokeshire, while the scheme from Equinor is located wholly in English waters.

However, the bidding process in the Crown Estate's wind leasing round five, based on a best price auction for the option to develop, failed to get interest in a third floating wind farm straddling both Welsh and English waters.

The Crown Estate said it has been actively engaging the market with a view to securing a developer for the site and expects to provide a further update in the near future. However, it is not clear how this will be achieved after it failed to get the required market buy-in first time around. Three projects would generate the electricity needs for more than four million homes and create more than 5,000 direct and supply chain jobs creating a £1.5bn economic boost.

The port of Port Talbot, which benefits from being in a freeport, has been identified, along with Bristol, for the assembling and maintenance of the floating wind farms.