Overview
We acted as a technical advisor to The Crown Estate in preparation for its Round 5 Celtic Sea Floating Wind Leasing Programme. This aimed to deliver over 4 GW of offshore wind capacity. Our role was to identify and assess the technical and market factors that could influence the success of the leasing round.
We collaborated with subconsultants Kent, and with Frazer-Nash on wake modelling.
Key focus areas included:
- Defining the technical design envelope for site selection and the Habitats Regulations Appraisal,
- Identifying near-term innovations suitable for deployment within project timelines,
- Exploring energy take-off options for electricity, hydrogen, and hybrid systems,
- Estimating levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and its spatial variation,
- Assessing supply chain readiness for floating wind in the Celtic Sea and UK,
- Highlighting innovation and demonstration opportunities, and
- Modelling array losses and the impact on project density using complex uncertainty analysis
Key challenges
- Balancing ambition with realism—identifying technologies that would be ready within the required timeframe
- Assessing the maturity of the UK and regional supply chain to deliver the projected capacity
- Addressing high levels of technical and regulatory uncertainty, particularly regarding environmental constraints and energy offtake infrastructure
- Conducting in-depth modelling of energy production and losses under varied layout and technology assumptions.
Key impact
- Directly informed the design and scope of the Round 5 Celtic Sea Floating Wind Leasing call
- Well-calibrated auction strategy taking into account for the unique technical, spatial, and supply chain characteristics of floating offshore wind
- De-risking the leasing process for developers
- Ensure that awarded projects are technically and commercially viable
BVGA team

Alex Russell

Belinda Malone

Graham Gow

