in June 2008. It followed the success of Rounds 1 and 2, from which important lessons were learnt; Round3 was on a much bigger scale than the combined total of its predecessors (Rounds1 and 2 allocated 8GW of sites, while Round 3 alone could identify up to 25GW). The Crown Estate proposed nine offshore zones, within which a number of individual wind farms would be situated. It ran a competitive tender process to award leases to consortia of potential developers. The bidding closed in March 2009 with over 40applications from companies and consortia and multiple tenders for each zone. The successful bidders were announced on 8 January 2010. Following the allocation of zones, individual planning applications still had to be sought by developers. The first zone came on stream in 2018; several more have still to be completed, and some have been abandoned (see below). Round 3 consortia During the bidding process there was considerable speculation over which companies had bid for the zones. The Crown Estate did not make the list public and most of the consortia also remained silent. The successful bidders for each zone were eventually announced as follows: In 2009, during the Round 3 initial proposal stage 26.7GW of potential capacity was planned. However, due to government planning permission refusal, challenging ground conditions and project financing issues, a number of proposed sites were withdrawn. A number of other sites were also reduced in scope. Round 4 Round 4 was announced in 2019 and represented the first large scale new leasing round in a decade. This offers the opportunity for up to 7GW of new offshore capacity to be developed in the waters around England and Wales. This is split into four bidding areas: Dogger Bank Eastern Regions South East Northern Wales and Irish Sea The tenders are under review and the Agreements for Lease will be announced in Autumn 2021. In February 2021, four winners for almost 8GW were found, mostly new entries. Option fees were introduced this time, with clearing prices ranging from £76,203 (US$105,022) per megawatt year to £154,000 (US$212,241) for sites ranging from 480MW to 1.5GW. The Crown Estate will be collecting annual revenues of around £880million until the sites reach FID or for a maximum of 10 years. Future plans The UK has accelerated its decommissioning of coal power stations aiming for a 2024 phase-out date, and recent British nuclear power stations