The United Kingdom’s latest renewable energy auction has secured a record 14.7-gigawatts (GW) of new capacity for development, including a record number of solar projects and the largest onshore wind project to be successful in England in a decade.
The UK government’s department for energy security and net zero announced on Tuesday the second batch of results from its latest Contracts for Difference (CfD) allocation (round 7, or AR7), which resulted in a number of records and landmarks.
AR7 saw the largest ever procurement of solar projects in the UK, topping out at 4.9 GW across 157 projects at a strike price of £65.23 per megawatt-hour (MWh), which would convert to around $A126/MWh.
A further 1.3 GW of onshore wind across 28 projects were awarded contracts at a strike price of £72.24/MWh (or around $A139/MWh). This also included the Imerys Wind Farm in Cornwall, the largest onshore wind project to be successful in a CfD auction round in England in a decade.
Notably, both strike prices for onshore wind and solar were under half the £147/MWh ($A283/MWh) cost of building and operating new gas power stations, and were 21 per cent and 13 per cent below the price cap, respectively.
The seventh CfD round also saw four tidal stream projects with a combined capacity of 20.9 MW awarded contracts.
“These results shows once again that clean British power is the right choice for our country, agreeing a price for new onshore wind and solar that is over 50% cheaper than the cost of building and operating new gas,” said Ed Miliband, UK’s energy secretary.
“By backing solar and onshore wind at scale, we’re driving bills down for good and protecting families, businesses, and our country from the fossil fuel rollercoaster controlled by petrostates and dictators. This is how we take back control of our energy and deliver a new era of energy abundance and independence.”
All the onshore wind and solar projects awarded capacity are expected to be online by 2029, while the two tidal stream projects will be online by 2030.
The announcement on Tuesday came less than a month after the first batch of contracts from AR7 were announced for offshore wind, which again broke records as Europe’s biggest ever offshore wind auction with 8.4 GW receiving contracts at a strike price of £90.91/ MWh ($A175/MWh).
A total of 12 offshore wind projects were awarded contracts, including 10 fixed-bottom offshore wind farms and two floating offshore wind farms – the latter being awarded at a strike price of £216.46/MWh ($A417/MWh).
Among the fixed-bottom offshore wind farms, two projects will boast a nameplate capacity of 1,500 MW while three projects will boast capacity of 1,380 MW. All 12 projects are expected to be online by 2031.
“With these results, Britain is taking back control of our energy sovereignty,” said Miliband, speaking in January.
“This is a historic win for those who want Britain to stand on our own two feet, controlling our own energy rather than depending on markets controlled by petrostates and dictators.
“It is a monumental step towards clean power by 2030, and the price secured in this auction is 40% lower than the alternative cost of building and operating a new gas plant.”
