The UK’s offshore wind industry now represents over 40% of the offshore wind capacity across Europe. The market has increased to over 90 GW in the last year according to a new study by the Crown Estate.

According to the UK Offshore Wind Report 2023, an additional 10 GW of offshore wind was added to the market and the industry generated 49TWh of electricity, the equivalent power required to support 50% of all UK homes.

In total, over 40% of Europe’s offshore wind capacity is located in UK waters. While the figures and growth of the UK offshore wind market are positive, the Crown Estate emphasised the UK requires up to 125GW of total capacity by 2050 to achieve its net zero targets.

Gus Jaspert, Managing Director of marine at the Crown Estate explains that last year was pivotal for the UK offshore wind industry as it recorded record figures for green electricity and the pipeline of offshore wind projects continues to rise despite the challenging economic times. Last year represented a massive change for the industry in terms of the required approach to accelerate growth in the offshore wind industry. Jaspert highlights that the Crown Estate has been focused on working with others to strengthen collaboration, improve data planning and create new opportunities. This shift in approach has delivered the necessary foundations to accelerate industry growth and meet the critical priorities of nature recovery, jobs, regeneration and reaching net zero.

The Crown Estate plays a pivotal role in scaling capacity by enabling the use of land seabed areas managed to deliver net zero goals. The organisation has created several measures to support the required technology and enable the introduction of new solutions, such as floating offshore wind.

One of the key locations for the development of floating technology is situated in the Celtic Sea. Last year, the Crown Estate highlighted its intention to increase the overall capacity for offshore wind leading round 5 to 4.5GW, with this round supporting the first stage of progress in the Celtic Sea.

The Crown Estate has been working with several organisations to strengthen their renewable developments. For example, the partnership between the Crown Estate and the Electricity System Operator (ESO) has developed a Strategic Spatial Energy Plan defining what needs to be developed, where and when, to achieve the 2035 targets. This plan could reduce waiting time for grid connections, a focus area for improvement in the market.

The Crown Estate is continuing to focus on the development of it entire Seabed Programme. This is a project committed to digitally mapping the seabed space required to meet future demand for a range of industries and habitats until 2050.

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