The Navitus Bay Development Limited consortium and the Forewind Limited consortium have reached agreements with the Crown Estate, which manages the UK seabed for the project-specific areas.
In 2009, various developers won exclusive rights to areas of UK seabed in order to find the locations suitable for the development of large-scale offshore wind projects.
The focus of developers is currently being shifted to the development and delivery of the projects, resulting in the replacement of the zone development agreements by project-specific deals with the Crown Estate.
Last year, the Crown Estate offered streamlined terms for project specific agreement for leases, apart from the hand-back of seabed rights for the rest of the parts of a zone that are not needed.
EDF Energy Renewables and Eneco are developing the Navitus Bay wind farm park in the West Isle of Wight Zone.
Navitus Bay will return 571km2 to the Crown Estate. It represents 79% of the original zone area awarded to the wind farm.
The Forewind Limited consortium, which includes energy firms RWE, SSE, Statkraft and Statoil, have completed the zone arrangements for the Dogger Bank Zone, off the east coast of Yorkshire.
It will develop only the already-approved 2.4-GW Creyke Beck A & B offshore wind projects and the 2.4-GW Teesside A & B schemes, all in the Dogger Bank zone.
The Crown Estate said it is also in advanced negotiations with ScottishPower Renewables and Vattenfall with respect to similar agreements within the East Anglia zone.
The companies have agreed to independently take forward offshore wind farm projects within the zone.
Crown Estate head of offshore wind Huub den Rooijen said: "This is an exciting time in the UK offshore wind market. We are already on a path which will see 10% of UK electricity demand met by offshore wind by 2020.
"Today’s announcement shows the confidence the market has in the future of the sector, with developers committing to invest in the planning and consenting of projects that will help form the backbone of UK offshore wind development beyond 2020.
"The scale of these projects offers the opportunity to provide energy security, drive down costs and stimulate economic development."
Image: About 10% of electricity demand in the UK is expected to be met by offshore wind by 2020. Photo: courtesy of The Crown Estate.