Dong Energy to test the next generation of offshore wind turbines in the UK

Huub den Rooijen, Head of Offshore Wind at The Crown Estate comments on Dong Energy’s announcement that it is to test the next-generation of offshore wind turbines in the UK: “The Crown Estate welcomes today’s announcement that DONG Energy has received consent for the Gunfleet Sands 3 demonstration project, the first of four such projects we announced in 2010. This will crucially test the next generation offshore wind power technology and provide a strong platform for a cost effective delivery of our ambitious Round 3 programme. We would like to congratulate Dong on delivering this site in less than three years and are pleased that together with Siemens, they have chosen to test the first two Siemens 6MW direct drive turbines offshore here in the UK.”

The Crown Estate manages a highly diverse property business valued at more than £7 billion.

We pay our surplus revenue (profit) to the Treasury for the benefit of the nation every year: in 2010/11 this was £230.9 million. Over the past ten years The Crown Estate has paid nearly £2 billion to the Treasury.

Our objectives, which are laid down by Parliament under the Crown Estate Act 1961, include enhancing the value of the estate and the revenue it produces.

The responsibilities of The Crown Estate are to maintain and enhance the value of the estate and its income over the long term and to do this having regard to good management. In summary, The Crown Estate is a successful business organisation guided by our core values – commercialism, integrity and stewardship.

The Crown Estate manages a diverse property portfolio which includes office, retail and industrial premises; housing; farmland; forestry and minerals; parkland; and around half the foreshore and almost all the seabed around the UK.

The Crown Estate’s marine portfolio includes around half the UK’s foreshore, tidal river beds and estuaries and almost the entire seabed out to the 12 nautical mile (nm) territorial limit around the UK. It also includes the rights to the natural resources in the UK Continental Shelf, with the exception of oil, coal and gas.

The Crown Estate issues leases for the development of wind farm sites within the 12 nm, whilst the Energy Act 2004 gives us the right to issue leases for development beyond the territorial limit within the Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) out to 200 nm.

In 1999 The Crown Estate established its programme of Marine Stewardship to provide funding to support practical projects, relevant research, and other initiatives that improve the status and management of the marine estate.

www.thecrownestate.co.uk