Offshore wind leasing drove UK seabed landlord the Crown Estate’s record profits in its most recent financial year, with newly crowned King Charles pledging to redirect some of his windfall to the public.
The Crown Estate recorded £442.6 million (€513 million) in net profit for its most recent financial year – which ended on 31 March 2023 – a 41% increase from the previous year.
It explained that signing lease agreements with the likes of RWE Renewables, BP and Corio for six sites that could support 8GW of new offshore wind capacity was the main driver of this increase.
The developers pay to lease the sites from the Crown Estate, which shares its profits with the UK government, which in turn passes some onto the royal family.
King Charles III – crowned in May 2023 – previously wrote to the UK government asking for his share of this windfall to be reduced, and for some of the proceeds to go “the wider public good”.
The Crown Estate next plans to lease sites for floating offshore wind farms in the Celtic Sea – off the south-west coast of England – and is set to carry out site surveys this summer.
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