Proactive Investors - Britain's next offshore wind leasing round will offer space for up to 4.5 gigawatts worth of production, rather than 4GW originally, off the coast of Wales and southwest England.
Three project development areas will be available rather than four, the Crown Estate confirmed on Monday, allowing more space for turbines.
“Through our role in managing the seabed, we want to catalyse the transition to net zero in the right way,” Crown Estate marine managing director Gus Jaspert said.
“Round 5 is set to be one of the biggest projects of its kind in the world, and will be a game changer for the UK’s energy security and net zero ambitions.”
The latest stage of marine surveying started on 24th September, the Crown Estate added, with technical specifications due to be published later this month.
An information memorandum will then be published later this year, ahead of the leasing round’s formal start.
The likes of RWE (LON:0HA0), TotalEnergies (LON:TTEF) and BP PLC (LON:BP) were among those to secure agreements during the Crown Estate’s fourth leasing round, which concluded in August after six projects were initially chosen to move forward in early 2021.