The UK government has allocated £310m to the Allocation Round 7a (AR7a) Contracts for Difference auction.
The purse will be available to all non-offshore wind technologies taking part in the country’s upcoming renewables tender.
Pot 1, where onshore wind and solar will compete alongside other established technologies, has been earmarked for £295m, while Pot 2 gets £15m for less established technologies including wave and tidal stream.
Delivery years for Pot 1 have been set at 2027-28 and 2028-29.
London has set a £160m monetary minimum for onshore and remote islands wind in Pot 1 to act as a “hard constraint” that functions as a “ringfenced budget” for the technologies.
A £295m maximum will meanwhile be applied to solar projects. Energy department DESNZ stated this figure is “purely technical” and designed to “ensure the auction separates the clearing price of solar PV from that of other participating technologies in Pot 1”.
Administrative strike prices have been confirmed as £92/MWh for onshore wind and £75/MWh for solar, both based on 2024 prices. The caps were previously announced in July.
AR7a is running to its longest schedule, according to the official timetable.
A sealed bidding window is due take place between 5 and 9 January, with results due to be published during 6-9 February.
Fixed-bottom and floating offshore wind are being run in a separate auction stream this year, with a £1bn budget confirmed by London in October.