Planning Consent Submitted

Ocean Winds, a 50:50 joint venture between EDPR and ENGIE, signed a Wind Farm Agreement for Lease (AfL) with The Crown Estate for a floating offshore wind project site in the Celtic Sea, announced on 3 March 2026. The project, which could be developed in phases up to a total capacity of 1.5 GW over the next decade, thereby entered the development phase under the UK’s Offshore Wind Leasing Round 5 framework. The AfL grants Ocean Winds seabed rights for the development period and subjects the project to a series of time-bound milestones defined by The Crown Estate’s Round 5 Information Memorandum. Under these Round 5 AfL milestones, each project company must submit a combined consent application for the offshore wind farm and its offshore transmission route to the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) or the Welsh Government, with confirmation of receipt from the relevant authority, within five years of AfL signing. Failure to meet this milestone (even after any permitted extension) entitles The Crown Estate to terminate the Wind Farm AfL. Applying this generic Round 5 requirement to Ocean Winds’ Celtic Sea AfL signed in March 2026 implies that the first planning/development consent application for the wind farm and associated offshore transmission infrastructure is expected to be submitted no later than March 2031, unless made earlier. This future regulatory submission will be a major step in moving the project from early-stage development into the formal consenting process, underpinning subsequent detailed design and construction planning.