Climate Changed

Queen Elizabeth Makes Millions From the U.K.’s Offshore Wind Farms

  • A wind turbine was installed offshore U.K. every day in 2017
  • Crown Estate paid 329 million pounds to the Treasury

The London Array offshore wind farm in the Thames Estuary, U.K.

Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

Leasing the seabed to offshore wind developers was the most profitable business last year for The Crown Estate Ltd., the company that generates income for Queen Elizabeth II.

Earnings from the clean-energy technology in 2017 jumped 32 percent from the previous year to 37 million pounds ($49 million), according to a statement. The gain boosted the investor’s energy, minerals and infrastructure portfolio income by 20 percent.