Greenpeace UK has threatened legal action against the Crown Estate over the way seabed rights are priced for offshore wind projects, with its latest challenge focused on the 1.5 GW Morgan Offshore Wind Farm in the Irish Sea.
The environmental group has sent a pre-action protocol letter to the Crown Estate, arguing that the fee structure for the re-tendered Morgan site has materially the same legal defects as previous offshore wind leasing rounds. Greenpeace said it is concerned that the bidding process could result in what it considers high costs for offshore wind developers and, ultimately, consumers.
The Morgan project was originally awarded in the Crown Estate’s Round 4 leasing process in 2021 to a joint venture between EnBW and JERA Nex BP. The developers discontinued the project in January 2026 after deciding it was no longer economically viable and returned the lease rights to the Crown Estate.
The Crown Estate launched an accelerated tender for the site in July, with the aim of selecting a preferred bidder and awarding development rights by the end of 2026. The process is said to preserve progress already made on Morgan, which secured its development consent order (DCO) in 2025 and has a grid connection agreement.
According to Greenpeace, the Morgan tender still allows fees to be determined through an uncapped bidding process. The Crown Estate has said developers will compete through a rising-clock auction, with bids determining a Site Exclusivity Fee that will become payable when the project enters into lease. The fee, although bid as a lump sum, is to be paid over 20 years from the start of the lease.
Greenpeace’s warning of a legal action follows its criticism of the Crown Estate’s use of uncapped option fees in Round 4. The group argues that high seabed costs increase the price at which offshore wind developers need to sell electricity and could ultimately increase costs for consumers.
Greenpeace cited new research from the University of Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, which it said found that Crown Estate option fees require developers to sell electricity at prices from 30 to 59 per cent higher than they would without the fees. The group said the study estimates that passing these additional costs on to consumers could add between GBP 36 billion and GBP 72 billion (between approximately EUR 42 billion and EUR 84.6 billion) to UK energy bills between 2035 and 2054.
The Crown Estate reported GBP 1.2 billion (approx. EUR 1.4 billion) in operating profit for 2025/26, down from GBP 1.4 billion (approx. EUR 1.6 billion) a year earlier, while income from Round 4 option fees fell from GBP 1.073 billion (approx. EUR 1.26 billion) to GBP 875 million (approx. EUR 1.03 billion) as projects moved towards construction.
Greenpeace is calling on the UK Chancellor to require a cap on seabed fees, including in the sixth offshore wind leasing round expected next year. The organisation also wants excess profits from previous leasing rounds to be invested in seabed conservation.