United Kingdom – RWE applauded the Secretary of State’s decision to grant The Crown Estate (TCE) permission to move forward with Offshore Wind Leasing Round 4 on the basis of a derogation.
The announcement means that the Secretary of State for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy has given the go-ahead for RWE’s two Dogger Bank South (DBS) Offshore Wind Farms, which are among six fixed bottom offshore wind projects with the potential to generate enough renewable electricity for more than 7 million homes. RWE may now enter into an Agreement for Lease with The Crown Estate.
Following the conclusion of The Crown Estate’s Offshore Wind Leasing Round 4 tender process in February 2021, RWE, one of the world’s top offshore wind companies, was given the status of preferred bidder for the two adjacent sites that make up Dogger Bank South.
The shallow offshore region of the North Sea known as Dogger Bank is where DBS East and DBS West are situated, more than 110 kilometers offshore. The projects’ combined installed capacity could reach up to 3,000 megawatts (MW), supporting the achievement of the UK government’s net zero goals and its commitment to installing 50 GW of offshore wind by 2030.
Development Consent
Even though the projects are in their very early stages, offshore and onshore surveys, which include the deployment of metocean data collection and a number of geophysical and environmental surveys, are already underway to support the development process. The following steps will involve carrying out the required planning and approval procedures in accordance with the most recent UK Government regulations, which include thorough stakeholder consultation, figuring out each project’s precise installed capacity, and securing Grid Connection Agreements with National Grid.
RWE will jointly develop the sites with the intention of submitting a Development Consent application to the Planning Inspectorate in 2024.
Throughout the development phase, local residents will have the chance to provide feedback on the proposed wind farm, and the project team expects to start a non-statutory consultation in the late summer or early fall of 2022. The project design will be influenced by comments received from the consultation as well as information gathered from surveys and conversations with statutory bodies.
