Leasing Round 6 Engagement

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 announcement in March 2026 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 through a series of webinars and questionnaires in 2026 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, in relation to the design of Leasing Round 6 and future leasing rounds, through the following activity which is targeted at existing and prospective offshore wind developers and project investors only. Spatial design Webinar – Thursday 23rd July 2026. This is planned to be a live presentation from The Crown Estate Spatial Design team, sharing the next stage of our spatial design process and some related information. We intend to provide an opportunity for attendees to participate in a live question and answer session. We are considering also offering attendees the opportunity to provide written feedback on the content of the webinar through an online link shared after the event. Bilateral discussions with developers and investors up until close to the date of the Information Memorandum (IM) being issued for Round 6, which is planned for the first half of 2027. The Crown Estate intends to hold a series of bilateral meetings with offshore wind developers and investors on the developing market proposition for Round 6 from July 2026. As there is no firm date yet for the Information Memorandum, an interim deadline for this engagement has been set for the 28 February 2027. The intention is that the webinar and bilateral discussions will 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 offshore wind developer or investor to provide an overview of any preliminary market engagement webinars they have missed or have a bilateral discussion. 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.