Ocean Winds, the joint venture between EDPR and Engie, is set to be awarded the rights for a third floating offshore wind site in the Celtic Sea by The Crown Estate.

The news follows the Offshore Wind Leasing Round 5 auction in June which awarded rights for two of three sites for new floating wind farms to Equinor and Gwynt Glas, who both entered into agreements for lease for their respective floating wind farm projects in October.

Following the auction, the Crown Estate stated it would ensure the delivery of the full potential capacity of up to 4.5GW available through Round 5 through deployment of a third site. Since then, it has been actively engaging the market to secure a developer for the third site, with Ocean Winds successful following a direct award process in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023.

The Crown Estate took several steps to derisk Round 5 and make the opportunity even more attractive to developers at a time of market challenges. These included agreeing a plan with the NESO for connecting the sites to the UK’s energy grid and undertaking a major programme of technical and environmental pre-consent surveys.

In return, as part of the tender process for Round 5, bidders were required to set out plans for creating new onshore benefits from the development of the new wind farms, including committing to creating new apprenticeships. Ocean Winds will be subject to the same conditions, with research showing that the full delivery of Round 5 could lead to the creation of more than 5,000 jobs and deliver a £1.4bn boost to the UK economy.

Ocean Winds and The Crown Estate will now work towards finalising an Agreement for Lease, which is expected to conclude in Spring 2026.

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