Guernsey Looking Into Offshore Wind Seabed Leasing

March 24, 2025, by Adrijana Buljan

The States of Guernsey’s Policy & Resources Committee is asking the Assembly to fund further preliminary work on developing offshore wind after initial scoping by the Offshore Wind Sub-Committee indicated that an offshore wind farm in Guernsey waters exporting power to the UK would be of value to the island.

The initial assessment identified a potential commercial option for Guernsey to lease part of the seabed for offshore wind, with a valuable opportunity for an offshore wind developer and investors, according to the Policy & Resources Committee.

The States of Guernsey would benefit from a lease exclusivity payment ahead of the delivery of the wind farm, rental income for up to 35 years and tax revenue.

A sample site spanning 157 square kilometres in Guernsey’s territorial sea has been the subject of technical research and was estimated to be able to accommodate an installed capacity of 1.27 GW. However, the ultimate location of the potential wind farm will be determined after a Marine Spatial Plan (MSP) is completed.

Guernsey is looking into employing a seabed leasing approach with the selected developer meeting much of the significant future cost of developing an offshore wind farm.

The current preferred approach is to undertake a competitive process to identify a partner for long-term development of an offshore wind farm, with steps put in place to ensure any lease granted is progressed. On the States of Guernsey side, the project needs to be de-risked through the establishment of a single entity to lead the work on behalf of the States, and by establishing a licensing regime and completing an MSP, the Policy & Resources Committee says.

Through the initial scoping work, the sub-committee made a base case valuation of the potential offshore wind farm but a more accurate picture can only be gained with further assessment, which is why the committee is proposing further exploratory investment.

The committee says that it intends to carry out work during 2025 and 2026 to develop a framework that could facilitate the island receiving substantial financial returns from an offshore wind farm developer, and also plans to establish an entity to take the work forward as an arm’s length body with appropriate political oversight.