RWE eyes gigawatt-scale floating offshore wind projects in Celtic Sea

German energy firm RWE hopes to build a pipeline of gigawatt-scale floating wind projects in the Celtic Sea, and intends to bid in the UK’s upcoming leasing round next year.

It has formed a partnership with Tata Steel to understand and explore production of steel components that could be used in floating wind structures in the Celtic Sea off the south-western coast of England and Wales.

With Tata Steel – which has a steelworks in Port Talbot in south Wales – RWE plans to identify steel components that the Indian firm could supply for floating offshore wind farms.

RWE hopes to build at least 1GW of floating offshore wind capacithy in the Celtic Sea, but has not confirmed a precise target. 

Seabed landlord the Crown Estate plans to award lease rights in the tender next year, with projects due to be delivered from 2030 or into the early part of next decade. The leasing round could see sites awarded capable of supporting up to 4GW of floating offshore wind capacity.

Crown Estate plans to award leases or early-commercial scale projects up to 350MW and for full-commercial scale projects up to 1GW.

RWE will face competition in next year’s Celtic Sea leasing round, with the likes of Magnora and Hiraeth, BlueFloat Energy and Falck Renewables and EDF Renewables and DP Energy planning to enter the auction.