On Thursday, the Queen’s property managers will set out the terms for the world’s biggest offshore wind auction, which is expected to raise record sums. The Crown Estate, which managed the Queen’s property portfolio, holds exclusive rights to lease the seabed around the British Isles for wind and wave power, used to generate electricity. The historic auction could increase energy bills and generate hundreds of millions for the crown.

The auction has prompted calls for a review of whether the Queen should have to right to claim any revenues at all from offshore wind.

Molly Scott Cato, finance spokesperson for the Green party, said: “If this source of value is going to increase fourfold, let’s make sure that value stays with the public rather than being spent on redoing the royal palace.”

Five seabed plots will be auctioned for a lease of 60 years: Dogger Bank, Southern North Sea, East Anglia, North Wales and the Irish Sea.

The Crown Estate keeps its forecasts private, which is raising concern with renewable energy developers.

Critics have accused energy companies of attempting a “cash grab” and renewable energy developers have warned a “runaway” auction would ultimately raise costs of energy bills for the public.

An industry source said: “It’s all sealed envelopes – and risks overcharging customers.”

He said energy companies were employing “sophisticated game-theory analysts” to determine how to bid against their rivals.

However, he added: “But at the end of the day, if you have a high option fee then you have a higher rent.

“In the past the Crown Estate applied a pretty light touch while the projects were being built – this is several magnitudes different.”

Barnaby Wharton of the trade association RenewableUK said: “It’s very important that when the Crown Estate comes forward with its final proposals the market should be transparent to ensure that consumers get best value for money.”

The Crown Estate’s profits go to the Treasury, which then sends 25 percent back to the monarchy in the form of the sovereign grant.

The sovereign grant was recently increased from 15 percent to cover the cost of renovations to Buckingham Palace, and will rain at 25 percent for a decade.

This means, if the system isn’t overhauled, the royals would directly benefit from money raised from leasing the seabeds.

Offshore wind is a booming market, and is forecast to become the UK’s biggest source of electricity in the decades ahead.

The Crown Estate charges royalties equal to two percent of revenues for use of its seabeds, and collected £41m from existing leases last year.

But with many more plots already leased and under construction, these amounts will balloon, with some forecasting hundreds of millions in the crown’s pocket within a decade.

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