Court of Appeal decision in Orsted West of Duddon Sands (UK) Ltd and others v CRC

The case now held largely in favour of the appellants – Orsted West of Duddon Sands (UK) Limited Gunfleet Sands II Limited Gunfleet Sands Limited and Walney (UK) Offshore Windfarms Limited – all members of a group of companies of which the ultimate parent is Ørsted A/S a Danish company allowing them to benefit from significant capital allowances on their construction expenditure in creating the Gunfleet Orsted West and Walney offshore wind farms – within UK territorial waters.

Background

Between 2000 and 2003 Orsted had successfully bid to develop the various sites to create offshore windfarms. Each consisted of a collection or array of wind turbine generators which are usually identical and are connected together electrically by cables and then further connected via substations to the public grid.

To give a sense of scale of these windfarms Gunfleet off the...