Corio Generation targets floating offshore wind in UK’s Celtic Sea

Macquarie-owned Corio Generation is teaming up with UK developer Morwind to develop floating offshore wind projects in the Celtic Sea.

The partners have not confirmed the total capacity or number of projects they hope to build off the south-west coast of the UK.

Corio explained that the partnership will combine the Macquarie-owned offshore wind developer’s international industrial expertise and access to capital and Morwind’s – which is based in Falmouth, south-west England – specialist regional knowledge and strong local stakeholder relationships.

They plan to enter an upcoming seabed leasing round for the Celtic Sea.

UK 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.

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

Corio, a standalone offshore wind business formed by financial services group Macquarie’s Green Investment Group, has a global portfolio of more than 20GW of offshore wind projects. It has developments in Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the UK.