It was announced today by The Crown Estate that Equinor and Gwynt Glas have entered into Agreements for Lease to establish new commercial scale floating wind farms in the Celtic Sea. This grants both developers exclusive rights to progress the development stages of their respective floating wind farm projects. Located off the coasts of South Wales and South West England, the sites each have a capacity of up to 1.5GW, with the potential to generate clean, renewable energy for millions of homes. Research released last year indicated that the successful delivery of Round 5 could create over 5,000 new jobs and contribute £1.4 billion to the UK economy.
Equinor and Gwynt Glas will now move forward with developing their project designs, carrying out onshore and offshore site surveys, Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), and public engagement activities, alongside securing planning consents. Once these preliminary stages are complete, the developers will be able to apply for full leases from The Crown Estate to construct and operate the new wind farms, which could be operational by the mid-2030s.
Under the industry-leading contractual commitments outlined in their Agreements for Lease, both Equinor and Gwynt Glas will also implement a range of social, economic, and environmental initiatives throughout the lifetime of their projects. For example, the developers have committed to ensuring that at least 3.5% of all new workers joining the projects will be employed as apprentices, and that a minimum of 10% of all new workers aged 19–24 will be individuals not currently in education, employment, or training.
Further details on plans to support local communities and unlock new onshore opportunities will be shared in due course as the developers expand their project teams and refine their development timelines. This will include information on how they intend to collaborate with ports around the Celtic Sea to develop the specialist infrastructure needed to support the assembly and deployment of the new turbines.
Charlie Allen, MEW’s FLOW Project Manager, said:
“Marine Energy Wales welcomes The Crown Estate’s announcement confirming the signing of Agreements for Lease for GwyntGlas and Equinor’s Round 5 projects. This milestone highlights growing confidence in the region for floating offshore wind development in the Celtic Sea. We will continue to support these projects to deliver clean energy, skilled jobs, and economic growth across the region.”