Leasing Round 6 – May / June 2026 Market Webinars and Questionnaires and Bilateral Discussions at Global Offshore Wind

Description

The Crown Estate, as manager of the seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland, periodically holds competitive tenders to award seabed rights for the development, construction and operation of offshore wind farms. In September 2024, The Crown Estate set out its approach to bringing such future tenders to market in its Future of Offshore Wind publication (Future of offshore wind | The Crown Estate). This was published alongside a report setting out our ambition to develop a Marine Delivery Routemap, which is intended to help enable a more holistic approach to be taken in relation to seabed development in the future. With the recent announcement of our intention to launch a new leasing round in 2027 (Offshore Wind Leasing Round 6) and building on the approach taken by The Crown Estate in previous leasing rounds, such as Offshore Wind Leasing Rounds 4 and 5, The Crown Estate is committed to engaging with a broad spectrum of market participants and other stakeholders to inform the development of its Leasing Round 6 and future leasing processes. In this context, The Crown Estate intends to undertake further preliminary market engagement in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023, through two upcoming webinars and a questionnaire, to gather input on the design of Leasing Round 6 and future leasing rounds. These two events and the questionnaire are targeted at existing and prospective offshore wind developers and project investors only. Revenue and Tender Model Webinar – Thursday 28th May 2026. This is planned to be a live presentation from The Crown Estate Leasing and Commercial teams. We intend to provide an opportunity for attendees to participate in a live question and answer session. Leasing Round 6 Market Engagement Questionnaire – We anticipate that the questionnaire will open around Friday 29th May and will close around Friday 26th June. It is intended that the questionnaire will focus on the general content of the revenue and tender model webinar, with the intended aim of allowing greater market feedback on the topics covered in that session. Engineering Webinar – Thursday 11th June 2026. This may be a broadcast of pre-recorded content. We anticipate providing an opportunity at the end of the broadcast for attendees to participate in a live question and answer session, and then inviting participants to provide written feedback after the session has concluded. Bilateral discussions with developers at Global Offshore Wind - 16 - 18 June 2026. The Crown Estate intends to hold bilateral meetings with offshore wind developers and investors during the conference. The intention is that the two webinars, the market engagement questionnaire, and bilateral discussions, will between them provide The Crown Estate with further opportunities to gather individual and industry-wide perspectives, thereby ensuring that the evolving needs and priorities of the offshore wind sector as a whole can be taken into account by The Crown Estate when shaping Leasing Round 6 and future leasing opportunities. This market engagement is intended for existing and prospective offshore wind developers and investors only, i.e. those who have the capacity and interest in bidding in a leasing round, either as a sole bidder or as part of a consortium or other joint venture. If offshore wind project development and investment companies wish to participate in any of these market engagement events, then they should apply by sending an email to round6@thecrownestate.co.uk. The Crown Estate is also willing to have a session with any developer or investor to provide an overview on of any preliminary market engagement webinars they have missed or have a bilateral discussion if there was not the opportunity to do so at Global Offshore Wind. The Crown Estate intends to engage with other relevant stakeholders separately at appropriate times and in an appropriate way. The Crown Estate is in the process of designing future offshore wind leasing rounds, which these discussions will inform. There is currently no formal date for the launch of Offshore Wind Leasing Round 6. The date set out below (the “Engagement deadline”) refers to the engagement activities which are the subject of this PME Notice, rather than any contract notice for a leasing process. For the avoidance of doubt, this notice is not a call for competition, and any subsequent procurement process will be commenced with one or more Tender Notice(s) in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023. The preliminary market engagement exercise is not an inducement to make any investment decision(s). For further information on The Crown Estate’s involvement in offshore wind, please visit https://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/our-business/marine/offshore-wind.