Around 990MW of onshore wind capacity has been secured under the UK’s Allocation Round 6 (AR6) auction.
A total of 21 projects were awarded the 15-year government backed contracts at a strike price of £50.90 per megawatt-hour.
That clearing price came in some way below the £64/MWh bid ceiling set prior to the tender.
No remote island schemes were successful in the latest Contracts for Difference auction.
The onshore wind total is far lower than last year’s 1.7GW haul and below the pace of CfD delivery that industry believes in needed to meet 2030 deployment targets.
SSE Renewables and OnPath Energy (formerly Banks Renewables) secured the two largest deals, with winning bids of 130.5MW and 120MW for their respective Cloiche and Lethans wind farms in Scotland.
Fred Olsen Renewables bagged deals for two projects – the 87.6MW Windy Standard 3 and 48.2MW Crystal Rig 4.
Vattenfall won a contract for 77MW at the Clashindarroch 2 wind farm in northern Scotland – along with a 15MW deal for the Kemberton solar farm.
The company’s head of UK onshore development Frank Elsworth said: “Onshore wind and solar can be deployed quickly, helping to improve our energy security, stabilising energy bills and enabling us to meet our climate targets.
“These projects also unlock opportunities for supply chain and community benefits in local communities up and down the country.”
Scotland-based developer Red Rock Renewables successfully secured a CfD award for the remaining 36MW capacity for the Benbrack Wind Farm and is working towards completing construction by end 2024 ahead of commissioning in summer 2025.
Benbrack Project Director, David Fielding, said: “Securing a route to market for the remainder of Benbrack’s capacity, and in turn mitigating financial risk, has been a key priority this year.
“Increasingly difficult market conditions have proved challenging over the last two years however, we’re encouraged by the Government’s ongoing commitment to renewables and recognition of onshore wind power’s valuable contribution to the UK’s net zero transition.”