UK Signs FID Contracts for Five Offshore Wind Projects

The UK Government has signed eight contracts awarded under the Final Investment Decision (FID) Enabling for Renewables process, including five contracts for offshore wind projects.

In April, the Government revealed eight awarded projects, which include offshore wind farms, coal to biomass conversion plants and dedicated biomass plants with combined heat and power. Together, they represent an additional renewables capacity of approximately 4.5 GW.

The five awarded offshore wind projects are: Beatrice offshore wind farm, Burbo Bank extension, Dudgeon offshore wind farm, Hornsea 1 offshore wind farm, and Walney Extension.

With this move, the Government has allocated the first Contracts for Difference (CfDs) that are being introduced through the Electricity Market Reform (EMR) programme. This will enable developers of renewable electricity projects to take final or other critical investment decisions, directly impacting on the time to commissioning their project, Minister for Energy Michael Fallon explained in his Ministerial Statement to Parliament on June 5.