Mainstream Renewable Power eyes Celtic Sea floating offshore wind tender

It is “jointly exploring” the UK’s upcoming leasing round next year with Maple Power – a joint venture of Canadian energy firm Enbridge and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board – the company stated.

Mainstream – which is majority-owned by Aker Horizons, and which recently combined with Norwegian developer Aker Offshore Wind – has helped to develop just over 3GW of offshore wind capacity using fixed-bottom foundations in UK waters, and has taken an early position in gigawatt-scale floating wind in South Korea and Scotland. Meanwhile, Maple Power is vying to build its first floating wind project off the coast of France.

Auction regulator the Crown Estate is due to launch a seabed leasing round for the Celtic Sea in mid-2023, offering leases it believes could support 4GW of floating offshore wind capacity.

Equinor, Corio Generation, RWE, Magnora and Hiraeth, BlueFloat Energy and Falck Renewables and EDF Renewables and DP Energy have all announced plans to enter the auction.

The Crown Estate plans to offer four project development areas, each of which it believes could host 1GW of floating offshore wind capacity.