Renewables trade associations and experts have called on the UK Government to supersize next year’s CfD4 auction to ensure different technologies can compete against each other successfully.
The final pot-structure and size of the auction are still unknown, but industry figures told EEEGR’s SNS2020 conference that a well designed round will set the UK on course to meet its 2050 net zero emissions target.
“Removing a capacity cap or maximising the size of the round is probably the easiest ‘win’ within the current policy framework that the government has to maximise the deployment of offshore wind,” RUK’s chief economist Marina Valls (pictured) told delegates.
Offshore wind has secured the majority of capacity on offer at the past two auction rounds, landing 5.5GW of a 5.8GW total at last year’s CfD3 and 3.2GW of 3.3GW awarded in 2018’s CfD2.
Valls said the government can count on economic benefits from designing the round so that it enables a multi-GW pipeline of new offshore projects.
“Our analysis shows that 6GW of new offshore wind will create 10,000 full time jobs and an investment windfall of over £17bn during the construction and development phases of those projects,” she said.
Solar Trade Association policy manager Cameron Witten said the solar industry wants to land significant capacity at the next auction to hit a 40GW by 2030 installation target, which it believes the government needs to stay on track for net zero.
“We want the government to be ambitious in the capacity caps that are set,” he said.
“There are 2.5GW of shovel-ready solar projects right now which if consented would have very short build times.”
Wave and tidal sector lead at ORE Catapult, Simon Cheeseman, told delegates tidal stream developments are also gunning for success in the latest auction round.
“The challenge facing tidal today is that it is on the cusp of being able to commercially deploy, but the technology has been unable to compete against offshore wind at past CfDs,” he said.
There are numerous projects in development round the UK and Cheeseman said advances in turbine technology have enabled developers to become less selective in choosing sites for new projects.
“Tidal needs support and we are very confident that during the CfD consultation and additional call for evidence the sector has been able to put forward a convincing case showing policy makers that the technology is ready to make a contribution,” he said.