Floating Wind KRA (England, Wales & NI), The Crown Estate

The suitability of areas for offshore wind development in the waters off England, Wales and Northern Ireland is the subject of ongoing assessment by The Crown Estate (TCE). In light of: i. the pace of technological change in the offshore wind sector; ii. the potential for future leasing as a response to UK Net Zero; and, iii. TCE’s responsibility to sustainably maximise the value of the seabed it manages, Everoze has been engaged by TCE to develop an updated methodology for characterising Key Resource Areas reflecting the latest and anticipated future technological developments in the sector out to a deployment date of 2040. A Key Resource Area (KRA) defines areas of seabed suitable for offshore wind development based on technology availability over a given timeframe. It is not intended to capture other factors vital to identifying suitability for development (e.g. other seabed uses, environmental constraints, etc.). These additional sensitivities will be considered in successive stages through further analysis by TCE in due course that build upon the KRA identification. In the context of a maturing sector, the methodology for KRA identification has moved away from classifying areas of seabed as Favourable, Limited and Marginal – as has been the case in previous KRA reviews - and towards identifying Technology Groups which characterise technical solutions for a given set of physical site drivers. This data presents the spatial analysis outputs of the criteria defined in the report by Everoze (Characterisation of Key Resource Areas for Offshore Wind – A Report for The Crown Estate, October 2020) for floating offshore wind and should be used in conjunction with the associated report which provides the context and justification to these spatial outputs. The study was run to the waters off England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Below are the criteria used for each floating wind Technology Group defined: TG1 – Conventional Anchoring-Moderate Sea State – Depth 50-250m, Quaternary Thickness >20m, Hs50 < 14m TG2 – Conventional Anchoring-Onerous Sea State – D 50-250m, QT >20m, Hs50 >14m TG3 – Complex Anchoring-Moderate Sea State – D 50-250m, QT 5-20m – Hs50 <14m TG4 – Complex Anchoring-Onerous Sea State – D 50-250m, QT 5-20m, Hs50 >14m TG5 – Pile/Socket Anchoring-Moderate Sea State – D 50-250m, QT <5m, Hs50 <15m TG6 – Pile/Socket Anchoring-Onerous Sea State – D 50-250m, QT <5m, Hs50 <15m There is a global 9m/s minimum windspeed adopted. Datasets used in the analysis: Quaternary Thickness – BGS Wind Speed – Met Office 2015 UK Offshore Wind Resource Bathymetry – Oceanwise Marine DEM 1 arc sec, and GEBCO World Bathymetry (in areas not covered otherwise) Metocean – ABPmer Hs50 This data has been prepared by The Crown Estate using the criteria provided by Everoze Partners Limited in the report ‘[Characterisation of Key Resource Areas for Offshore Wind’, October 2020]. The data is provided for information purposes only and no party may rely on the accuracy, completeness or fitness of its content for any particular purpose. The Crown Estate makes no representation, assurance, undertaking or warranty in respect of the analysis in the report and thus the associated spatial data outputs