King Charles III's Crown Estate, which owns Britain's seabed, has given the go-ahead to expand high-density wind farms on current seabed leases, seeking a rapid and space-efficient way to raise capacity and support the country's energy transition.

Seven projects, including RWE's Rampion 2, and SSE and Equinor's Dogger Bank D, are set to increase capacity by 4.7 gigawatts under this Capacity Increase Program.

Britain plans to largely decarbonise its electricity sector by 2030 and wants to increase renewable power, particularly offshore wind, to insulate it against fossil fuel price shocks.

It has a target to have up to 50 GW of clean energy from offshore wind deployed by 2030, up from 15 GW currently.

All seven projects have grid connections and infrastructure that will enable swift deployment, and are within pre-established offshore wind sites, The Crown Estate said.

"Our purpose is to create lasting and shared prosperity for the nation," said Gus Jaspert, managing director, marine, at The Crown Estate.

"Offshore wind enables us to do that as a driver of economic growth through jobs creation and supply chain development."

"Delivering the Capacity Increase Program is an effective way to provide up to four million homes with secure, clean energy and further decrease the UK’s reliance on fossil fuels, often sourced internationally," Jaspert added.

Britain is already the world's second-largest offshore wind market by capacity, after China, but spiralling costs amid high inflation and supply chain bottlenecks have hit the sector.

It came as the governmet announced it would more than doubled funding available under a scheme seeking to spur investment in offshore wind projects to £544 million after higher-than-expected demand.

An expansion of the investment incentive scheme which the government calls the 'Clean Industry Bonus' from an initial budget of £200 million to £544 million could help improve the financial viability of new projects.

The scheme will help underpin the economics of projects bidding in Britain's next annual renewable subsidy auction which will be held later this year.

Successful bidders in the Clean Industry Bonus will receive an initial £27 million in funding for every gigawatt (GW) of capacity from offshore wind projects.

It is open to developers investing in regions that need it most or in cleaner supply chains, including traditional oil and gas communities, ex-industrial areas and ports and coastal towns, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) said.

"This additional funding has the potential to help secure billions in private investment in new factories manufacturing components for the offshore wind industry across the UK," Ana Musat, Executive Director of Policy at industry group RenewableUK said in the government statement.