UK starts pre-qualification for offshore wind leasing round

Summary

The Crown Estate has announced the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) for the UK’s offshore wind leasing round 4 has officially been issued.

Article

The Crown Estate has announced the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) for the UK’s offshore wind leasing round 4 has officially been issued. The PQQ is the first stage of the round 4 leasing process and is there to assess the bidder’s ability to deliver an offshore wind project. This is determined by assessing the financial, legal and technical elements of the process.

The PQQ

The questionnaire is available via The Crown Estate’s e-Tendering Portal. Submissions must be made no later than 29th November 2019. Running until January 2020, PQQ will then be followed by stage one of an invitation to tender between February and June that year. We will see the second stage in September.

A ‘Bidders Information Day’ was held recently, offering potential participants in the round more information. This information can be found here.

The latest leasing round should award at least 7GW of new seabed rights for wind projects in four seabed bidding areas with water depths of up to 60 metres: Dogger Bank, Eastern Regions, South East & Northern Wales and the Irish Sea. The tender process will be completed in 12 months and will be followed by a plan-level Habitats Regulations Appraisal (HRA) and the award of the new seabed rights. These will come into place as early as 2021.

Looking forward to the next stage

The Crown Estate business development manager Jonny Boston said, “We are delighted to be issuing the pre-qualification questionnaire for leasing Round 4.

“After over 18 months of preparation, the formal tender process is now officially open, marking a significant moment for the UK offshore wind market. Now the process begins in earnest to identify the next generation of offshore wind developments that will support the UK’s clean energy future out to 2030 and beyond.”

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