The U.K. Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has today launched the fourth round of the new Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme for the deployment of utility-scale renewable energy projects.
The British government has allocated £285 million for the new auction round and has included solar and onshore wind among the competing energy sources for the first time since 2015. Only £10 million, however, has been devoted to solar and onshore wind, which the government defined as established technologies. Most of the funds have been earmarked for offshore wind, tidal, and floating offshore wind projects.
Through this round, the BEIS wants to contract around 12 GW of renewable energy capacity, which is more than in the previous three rounds combined.
“Onshore wind and solar are competing in an allocation round for the first time since 2015, and the government is seeking significant capacity from these technologies which will help us achieve the required levels of deployment in line with meeting climate change targets,” the BEIS said, noting that solar and wind combined may not exceed 5 GW in the auction and that a capacity cap of 3.5 GW was set for each of the two technologies in the procurement exercise.
Interested developers have until January 14, 2022, to submit their applications.
