The crown estate agreed to lease an area off the Yorkshire coast to Hornsea offshore windfarm, but also to a BP underwater carbon-capture project. Photograph: Arild Lilleboe/Getty Images/iStockphoto
A clash between two multibillion pound “net zero carbon” schemes is brewing in the North Sea after the Queen’s property manager granted development rights for one patch of seabed to two different projects at the same time.
The crown estate will earn millions of pounds after agreeing to lease an area off the Yorkshire coast to the latest phase of the giant Hornsea offshore windfarm, as well as to a scheme led by BP which plans to begin storing carbon dioxide under the seabed. This has prompted concern that the giant wind turbines could interfere with seabed sensors for the carbon storage project.
The carbon capture scheme was granted “fast-track status” by the government as part of the long-awaited net zero strategy it set out earlier this week, meaning developers will need to begin trapping, piping and storing carbon beneath the North Sea from a cluster of nearby factories by the mid-2020s.
The crown estate granted the East Coast Cluster project an agreement in 2013 to lease the plot while it develops plans to capture emissions from factories in the Teesside and Humber industrial clusters and store the carbon securely beneath the seabed.
It had already auctioned off the right to develop an offshore windfarm on an area that sits above the carbon capture site in 2010. The windfarm rights were later bought from the consortium by Danish developer Orsted in 2015 to host part of its Hornsea windfarm which will include 180 turbines on a plot which is 190 square miles.
The green developers are in early talks to find a way to “coexist” in close quarters but have no firm plans to manage the clash, and face a tighter deadline to find a solution due to the East Coast Cluster’s fast-track status.
“Put simply, the crown estate has been a bit greedy and leased one area to two projects at the same time,” said an industry source involved in one of the schemes - The Guardian - link - Jillian Ambrose - link - more like this - link
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