Britain’s Crown Estate plans new offshore wind leasing round for next year

King Charles III’s Crown Estate, which owns Britain’s seabed, ​said on Thursday it plans to ‌hold a new offshore wind leasing round in the first half of next ​year.

The Crown Estate, which comprises ​tracts of land and most of ⁠the country’s seabed, is an ​independently run, commercial business, whose profit – seen ​as the benchmark for the level of public funding for the royal family – goes ​to the UK Treasury.

The next ​leasing round, which would be the sixth to ‌date, ⁠could accommodate a capacity of 6 gigawatts or more, largely in the northeast of England and in water ​depths ​suitable for ⁠fixed-bottom wind, subject to stakeholder engagement, the Crown Estate ​said in a statement.

The UK’s ​offshore ⁠wind pipeline is one of the largest in the world, with current ⁠capacity ​of nearly 17 GW ​and a further 12 GW under construction.