The UK’s Crown Estate has launched an accelerated competitive tender to appoint a new developer for the 1.5GW Morgan Offshore Wind Project after former developers JERA Nex bp and EnBW abandoned the lease earlier this year.
The Irish Sea project is one of the UK’s most advanced undeveloped offshore wind sites, having already secured a Development Consent Order (DCO) for the generating station and a grid connection agreement with the National Energy System Operator. A decision on the associated transmission assets, being progressed jointly with the neighbouring Morecambe Offshore Wind Project, is expected later this year.
Morgan was awarded during Offshore Wind Leasing Round 4 in 2021 but was returned to The Crown Estate in January 2026 following a strategic review by the original development partners.
EnBW said the decision followed the failure of Morgan and the neighbouring Mona project to secure Contracts for Difference (CfDs) in the latest government allocation round. In announcing its withdrawal, the company cited increasingly challenging market conditions and said the projects no longer met its investment criteria. As part of the restructuring, JERA Nex bp bought EnBW’s interest in Mona, while the partners jointly agreed to discontinue Morgan and surrender the Agreement for Lease.
Accelerated process
Rather than returning the site to a future leasing round, The Crown Estate has opted for what it describes as an accelerated tender process to minimise delays by appointing a replacement developer to take forward a project that has already hurdled many of the highest-risk barriers.
“The Crown Estate is working with relevant stakeholders to seek to preserve, wherever possible, the substantial development progress already made on the project,” it says. “This will help a future developer build on existing foundations and support continued delivery at pace.
“The project secured a Development Consent Order for its wind farm asset in August 2025 and is awaiting a decision on the DCO application for its transmission assets – a joint application with the transmission assets of the 480MW Morecambe offshore wind farm – now expected this September.”
Unlike a conventional offshore wind lease, where developers must undertake years of environmental assessment, consenting and grid negotiations before construction planning can begin, the successful bidder will inherit a project with planning consent for the generating assets, an established grid connection and advanced transmission consenting. The Crown Estate expects to appoint a preferred developer before the end of this year.
Work opportunities
For the commercial marine sector, the relaunch has the potential to unlock a substantial package of future offshore work.
Once a new developer is in place, procurement is expected to resume for marine surveys, geotechnical investigations, subsea cable installation, foundation transport and installation, heavy-lift operations and a range of offshore support services.
The project will generate demand for crew transfer vessels, service operation vessels, multicats, tugs, guard vessels and other specialist workboats, while ports supporting offshore wind construction could benefit from renewed mobilisation, fabrication and logistics activity.
“We’re pleased to be bringing this site back to market, following considered assessment of a range of options, and look forward to securing a new developer to realise its potential,” said Gus Jaspert, managing director, Marine at The Crown Estate.
In March this year, the Crown Estate said it would launch a leasing round for 6GW of offshore wind capacity off the coast of northeast England. The leasing round is expected to begin in the first half of 2027.
