The UK government has awarded a record 8.4 GW of offshore wind capacity in the Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 7 (AR7), including two floating wind projects. The biggest winner of the UK’s latest CfD round is RWE, which secured contracts for almost 7 GW of offshore wind projects.
RWE has been awarded CfDs at a strike price of GBP 91.20/MWh (around EUR 105.25/MWh) for its Norfolk Vanguard East and Norfolk Vanguard West, Dogger Bank South East, Dogger Bank South West and the Awel y Môr offshore wind projects, with a combined capacity of 6.9 GW.
SSE secured a CfD for 1.4 GW of capacity from Phase B of its Berwick Bank (Berwick Bank B) at a guaranteed strike price of GBP 89.49/MWh (around EUR 103.25/MWh).
The winning floating wind projects include the 100 MW Erebus in the Celtic Sea and the 100 MW Pentland in Scotland, with a strike price of GBP 216.46/MWh (approximately EUR 250/MWh).
Blue Gem Wind, a joint venture between Simply Blue Group and TotalEnergies, is developing Erebus. The Pentland floating wind project, developed by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), recently secured investment from Great British Energy, National Wealth Fund and Scottish National Investment Bank.
The UK government said on 14 January that AR7 was the biggest single procurement of offshore wind energy in British and European history.
“With these results, Britain is taking back control of our energy sovereignty. This is a historic win for those who want Britain to stand on our own two feet, controlling our own energy rather than depending on markets controlled by petrostates and dictators” , said UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband .
“It is a monumental step towards clean power by 2030 and the price secured in this auction is 40% lower than the alternative cost of building and operating a new gas plant.”