Crown Estate to progress Round 4 offshore wind projects on derogation

The Crown Estate today announced plans to proceed to the final stages of the 8-GW Offshore Wind Leasing Round 4 on the basis of a “derogation.”

The body, which manages the seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland, under Round 4 last year picked six offshore wind projects, representing around 8 GW, in the waters around England and Wales. All are now intended to proceed to the award of an agreement of lease, subject to any environmental impacts being fully offset.

This follows the completion by the Crown Estate of a plan-level habitats regulations assessment (HRA) for the leasing round, which is an assessment of the possible impact of the selected projects on relevant nature conservation sites. It showed that adverse effects could not be ruled out for two of the protected sites. In view of reasons such as the urgent need to deliver renewable energy, the Crown Estate is making use of the "derogation" process which allows projects to progress as long as any environmental impacts are offset through environmental compensatory measures.

The proposed derogation will now be reviewed by the UK government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Welsh government. If there is no response to the derogation notice within 21 days, the plan can be agreed.

The potential negative effects concern the Flamborough and Filey Coast special protection areas (SPA), due to a potential impact on the kittiwake feature, and the Dogger Bank special area of conservation (SAC), due to a possible impact on its sandbank feature.

Below are the six winning projects:

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