The UK government has committed to a rolling series of Contracts for Difference auctions starting “by May 2019” and then every other year “from then on”.
Competitions will be held under the previously-identified £557m budget and will cover both offshore wind as well as remote islands projects.
Depending on the price achieved, each CfD round is expected to deliver between 1GW and 2GW from so-called Pot 2 less established technologies.
“The auction will make the UK a beacon for inward investment and provide renewable energy business . . . the certainty to invest and grow,” said BEIS.
“This will encourage long-term investment to help reduce the cost of energy.”
Ministers also announced a £20m increase in Local Enterprise Partnership funding for the north-east of England while a “cash injection” was confirmed the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult and Centre for Process Innovation.
Energy Minister Claire Perry is due to say: “The UK renewables sector is thriving with more offshore capacity here than anywhere else in the world. Today the sector gets the certainty it needs to build on this success through the next 10 years.”
Offshore Wind Industry Council co-chair Benj Sykes, who is also UK country manager at Orsted, said: “Our sector has proposed a transformative ambition to deliver at least 30GW by 2030, enough to meet more than a third of the country’s electricity needs, which in turn could increase exports five-fold, create thousands of skilled jobs and reduce electricity system costs.
“Today’s announcement is a vote of confidence in our industry, and will directly enable more investment in the UK.”
Image: ORE Catapult
UK commits to rolling CfD rounds
By EBS