The Crown Estate plans to offer all round one and two offshore windfarm operators the opportunity to extend their lease terms up to 50 years.

The decision has been taken post developers asking for longer leases to allow them a full operational period for their projects and to plan for future ‘repowering’ of projects with new turbines.

This offer will apply to: Round one sites with 22 year leases; Round two sites with 40 year leases (round two sites of 500 MW capacity or above already have 50 year leases or agreements for lease so will not be affected by this proposal); The offer applies whether the lease has been signed or whether an agreement for a lease is in place.

Sites recently allocated in Scottish territorial waters will also have agreements allowing for 50 year leases, subject to the sites proceeding to the next stage of development following the strategic environmental assessment for offshore wind in Scottish waters.

The Crown Estate will issue new lease options or leases to the projects concerned. Where a lease has already been granted, the total lease duration will be 50 years from the commencement date of the original lease. This proposal does not affect the location, area or agreed generating capacity of any site.

An extension process would mean that the 8 GW of offshore wind capacity allocated under round one and two would be able to produce green electricity for longer, an important consideration with some of the first round one leases due to expire shortly after 2020. For round two sites, a 50 year lease will allow for two operational cycles with the opportunity to ‘re-power’ with new turbines midway through the lease term. The Crown Estate is making this offer at an early stage to allow tenants to plan now for the future of their projects, including the option of re-powering.

According to the Crown Estate, this gives the developers greater certainty about the future of their projects and allows them to plan strategically.