UK Announces 9.6 GW of Renewable Awards In Sixth CfD Auction

By Tony Cheu/ Updated On Thu, Sep 5th, 2024

The much awaited renewable awards with contract for difference have been announced finally. The results were awaited eagerly following the abject failure of the last offer, and was considered particularly vital for the offshore wind industry after a string of bad news, including cancellation of awarded projects elsewhere in Europe. With £1.56 billion allocated to this round, the government acknowledged the escalation on costs for offshore wind, besides the need to ensure progress forward for renewables.

A total of 131 projects have secured contracts, including 9 offshore wind farms. 2 out of 9 contracts represent the largest and the second largest wind farm in Europe. Easily beating previous such awards with the 4.9 GW of offshore wind development contracts handed out.

Held by the UK Department for Net Zero and Energy Security (DESNZ), the latest Contracts for Difference (CfD) has awarded 3.3GW of solar PV. In total, 93 ground-based solar PV projects were awarded CfDs in the sixth auction round (AR6). This auction round beat a record set in AR4, when 66 solar projects, totaling 2.2GW, gained CfDs.

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Delivery will start from 2026 with 884MW of solar PV contracted for 2026, 509MW in 2027 and 1,895MW in 2028.

Solar PV achieved a strike price of £50.07/MWh, higher than both AR4 (which was £45.99/MWh) and AR5 (which was £47.00/MWh).

Speaking about the results, Gemma Grimes, director of policy and delivery at trade association Solar Energy UK said “The CfD system is currently working well for solar. We look forward to future allocation rounds and will work with the Government to deliver the capacity necessary to meet its renewable energy targets. Having greater visibility of future budgets for the years to come would help achieve this,” said .

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EDF backed Longfield Solar farm and Heathland solar farm won a total of 400 MW allocation, becoming the first solar development with a capacity over 50MW to secure a CfD and was the highest capacity for a solar PV project awarded in AR6. this also made the French firm the biggest auction winner from this round.

By the time the solar projects are executed, total solar PV capacity in UK is expected to reach at least 23.3GW. Nowhere close to the Labour government’s target of 50 GW. Good reasons to expect much more, very soon .