The UK government has more than doubled the total budget available for the newly introduced Clean Industry Bonus payments offered under its flagship Contracts for Difference scheme to £544m.
Payments will be made at £20.1m per GW of offshore wind capacity applying to the CIB from developers who have committed to increase the sustainability of supply chains.
However, the total fund had previously been capped at £200m and assumed developers would put forward 7GW-8GW capacity.
Industry players had until 14 April to enter the scheme, which applies for the first time to fixed bottom and floating wind developers from this year’s Allocation Round 7 and is a requirement for entry into the full CfD auction, for which dates have yet to be published.
CIB assessment criteria includes investing in new factories in economically disadvantaged areas across the UK or choosing companies investing in sustainable manufacturing techniques to build their projects.