Overview

• Greenpeace publicly demanded changes to seabed lease terms and warned it will sue the Crown Estate if the terms are not revised.
• The group alleges the seabed landlord exploits a monopoly position that inflates offshore wind costs, harms developers and raises household bills.
• The Crown Estate rejects the claims, saying developers set option fees through open auctions and that its net revenue returns to the Treasury; it reported £1.1bn profit in the year to March.
• Greenpeace urged the chancellor to order an independent review of auction practices and signaled a court may need to decide lawfulness if issues persist before the next round.
• The dispute unfolds as the UK seeks to roughly triple offshore wind capacity by 2030 after extending contract terms to 20 years and raising minimum prices to attract bidders.