Crown Estate plans new Mabinogi-named wind farms off Welsh coast amid devolution calls

The Crown Estate have revealed that they are planning new Mabinogi-named wind farms off the coast of Wales.

Llŷr 1 and Llŷr 2, named after the father of Bendigedfran in Welsh mythology, will be built off the coast of Pembrokeshire alongside two other wind farms called Erebus and, nearer the coast of south-west England, White Cross.

The Llŷr and White Cross wind farms will be “test and demonstration scale projects” for full-commercial scale projects of up to 1GW.

The leasing process could see rights awarded by the end of 2023, with projects delivered from 2030 into the early part of the next decade.

The development comes following a campaign by Plaid Cymru, to be considered by the Welsh Government, to transfer the £500m Crown Estate to Welsh control.

Powers over the management of Crown Estate in Wales are still held in Westminster, and the revenues proceed directly to the UK Government’s Treasury.

In the Senedd on Wednesday the Climate Change Minister Julie James said there would be “undoubtedly a financial benefit, as is very obvious in Scotland, of having the Crown Estate devolved”.

The new wind farms planned would be big enough to power almost four million homes under the plans set out by the Crown Estate. The organisation said that it intended to award leases by the end of 2023.

The UK Government wants 1GW of floating wind generation operating in UK waters by 2030, up from 80 megawatts today.

Huub den Rooijen, Crown Estate managing director of marine, said that the Celtic Sea was “eminently suitable for floating wind because it is deep”.

“We have learnt that you need to invest early on in industrial capability for these industries to compete successfully,” he said.

The project could create opposition in the south-west of Wales as it could necessitate the need for more power cables. The Crown Estate said they would work with the National Grid to try and avoid that.

‘Half a billion’

The value of the Crown Estate Wales’ renewable assets grew from £49.2m in 2020 to £549.1m in 2021, but that wealth was hoarded in the south east of England, Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts said.

Last month she urged the Prime Minister to put his ‘levelling up’ rhetoric into action by using the upcoming COP26 climate summit in Glasgow to “entrust the people of Wales with the means to manage our offshore wind and tidal resources for everyone’s benefit”.

Liz Saville Roberts said: “If COP26 is to be successful, people must be at the heart of our net zero mission. For too long, the UK economy has left too many people behind while wealth and investment hoarded in the south east of England.

“Devolving powers over the Crown Estate would bring half a billion pounds worth of offshore wind and tidal stream potential under Welsh control – assets currently controlled by Westminster. Scotland, meanwhile already has these powers.

“Will he support my Bill to devolve the management of the Crown Estate to Wales?”

The value of the Crown Estate Wales’ renewable assets grew from £49.2m in 2020 to £549.1m in 2021, but that wealth was hoarded in the south east of England, Liz Saville Roberts said.

She urged the Prime Minister to put his ‘levelling up’ rhetoric into action by using the upcoming COP26 climate summit in Glasgow to “entrust the people of Wales with the means to manage our offshore wind and tidal resources for everyone’s benefit”.

Speaking in the House of Commons today, Liz Saville Roberts said: “If COP26 is to be successful, people must be at the heart of our net zero mission. For too long, the UK economy has left too many people behind while wealth and investment hoarded in the south east of England.

“Devolving powers over the Crown Estate would bring half a billion pounds worth of offshore wind and tidal stream potential under Welsh control – assets currently controlled by Westminster. Scotland, meanwhile already has these powers.

“Will he support my Bill to devolve the management of the Crown Estate to Wales?”