2020, Everoze, The Crown Estate Research, Characterisation of Key Resource Areas for Offshore Wind series https://portal.medin.org.uk/portal/start.php?tpc=015_33b0b668-923a-4179-b3cd-9e6d185c9c49 The suitability of areas for offshore wind development in the waters off England, Wales and Northern Ireland is the subject of ongoing assessment by The Crown Estate (TCE). In light of: i. the pace of technological change in the offshore wind sector; ii. the potential for future leasing as a response to UK Net Zero; and, iii. TCE’s responsibility to sustainably maximise the value of the seabed it manages, Everoze has been engaged by TCE to develop an updated methodology for characterising Key Resource Areas, reflecting the latest and anticipated future technological developments in the sector, for a deployment date of 2040. A Key Resource Area (KRA) defines areas of seabed suitable for offshore wind development, based on technology availability over a given timeframe. It is not intended to capture other factors that are vital to identifying suitability for development (e.g. other seabed uses, environmental constraints, etc.). These additional sensitivities will be considered in successive stages through further analysis by TCE, building upon the identification of KRA in due course. In the context of a maturing sector, the methodology for KRA identification has moved towards identifying Technology Groups which characterise technical solutions for a given set of physical site drivers. An example of this is a piled monopile foundation (the technology solution) for a given water depth range (the site driver). Furthermore, the assessment has been split into fixed foundation and floating wind, to reflect the significant differences between requirements for these technology classes. 20210517T14:08:06