UK Awards 131 Renewable Energy Projects With 9.648GW Capacity in Largest CfD Auction

The UK has selected 131 new renewable energy projects with a total installed capacity of 9.648GW in the sixth round of Contract for Difference (CfD) auctions, making it the most successful auction of the program to date. The auction will provide electricity to approximately 11 million households.

Among them, the photovoltaic project obtained a capacity of 3.288 GW, with an execution price of £ 50.07/MWh, which is about 18% lower than the administrative execution price of £ 61/MWh. Among them, nearly 3GW of projects are located in England, 316MW in Scotland, and 74.88MW in Wales. The largest capacity photovoltaic project among them is EDF Renewables' 299MW photovoltaic project, which will be equipped with a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS).

The offshore wind power project was the biggest winner in this auction, with an installed capacity of 3.363GW, all located in England. The execution price for these projects is £ 58.87/MWh, which is 19.36% lower than the official limit of £ 73/MWh. The winning project is expected to be launched in 2026/27 and 2027/28. This result is due to the UK government increasing the budget for the sixth round of Contract for Differences (AR6) allocation by 50%.

It is reported that the UK government has set the budget for the sixth round of Contract for Difference Allocation (AR6) at over 1 billion pounds (1.3 billion US dollars/1.2 billion euros), which is the largest single round budget in history. The sixth round of CfD tender is divided into three technical groups:

Category 1: Mature technologies, including onshore wind power and photovoltaics, with a subsidy budget of £ 120 million;

Category 2: Emerging technologies, including geothermal and floating wind power, with a subsidy budget of 105 million pounds;

Category 3: Fixed offshore wind power, with a subsidy budget of £ 800 million.