More than 1480MW of onshore wind capacity has been awarded in the UK’s Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 5.
A total of 24 wind farms were awarded government support contracts at a strike price of £52.29 per megawatt-hour.
The administrative price set for onshore wind in AR5 was £53/MWh.
All of the sites awarded contracts are located in Scotland, except for one in Wales – Pennant Walters’ 34.8MW Foel Trawsnant wind farm.
SSE Renewables scooped the biggest slice of the pie in Pot One, securing 231MW for its Strathy South wind farm in northern Scotland.
The developer also locked in a 100.8MW contract for its Bhlaraidh Extension, as well as 49.99MW for its Aberarder, both also in the Highlands.
SSE was also the only winner to emerge from the Remote Islands technology stream, securing 223.6MW for its Viking wind farm in Shetland, having last year been awarded 220MW for the same site.
EDF Renewables bagged 168.75MW for its Clash Gour project in Moray and a further 40MW for its Heathland wind farm in South Lanarkshire.
RWE Renewables has been awarded 69MW to its in-construction Enoch Hill site along with 36MW for its Camster 2 scheme and 62.7MW for its Strathy Wood project.
Germany’s Energiekontor secured 242.3MW of capacity across five separate Scottish sites, including its Fell, Margree, Lairg 2, Garbet and Hare Craig wind farms.
Meanwhile, Boralex was awarded 106MW for its Limekiln development in the Highlands, while an ESB-Coriolis partnership lined up 67.2MW for their Blarghour scheme.
Boralex country manager Esbjörn Wilmar said: “We are very pleased to have secured a strong CfD for Limekiln.
“This strike price provides us with the certainty of a stable income and helps to secure project finance.
“The enabling works have already been completed and the turbine supply agreement with Vestas was signed last year.
“Having the CfD now in place, with the construction of the onsite substation and grid connection underway, the project is making good progress.
ESB was also successful at its Greenburn project, developed in partnership with REG, netting 63MW of capacity for the East Ayrshire site.
The results for onshore wind in AR5 are a significant step up compared to the 2022 auction, where around 888MW of capacity was secured across 10 projects.
A total of 3.7GW of renewable capacity was secured across the auction as a whole, although offshore wind was absent after no winners emerged.
“Significant numbers of solar power and onshore wind, and a record number of tidal energy schemes, have been awarded funding today,” the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said in a statement.
“For the first time, geothermal projects – which use a natural heat source underground for generating power – have also been successful.”
Energy and Climate Change Minister Graham Stuart added: “We are delighted that our first annual Contracts for Difference auction has seen a record number of successful projects.
“Offshore wind is central to our ambitions to decarbonise our electricity supply and our ambition to build 50GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030, including up to 5GW of floating wind, remains firm.
“The UK installed 300 new turbines last year and we will work with industry to make sure we retain our global leadership in this vital technology.”
Stephen Wheeler, managing director for SSE Renewables, added: “We are pleased to have secured onshore wind contracts for Aberarder, Bhlaraidh Extension, Strathy South, and Viking.
“Onshore wind, like offshore, is a critical component of the net zero transition with an essential role to play in decarbonising the UK’s energy supply.
“The CfD scheme has been a hugely successful mechanism for deploying renewable energy, but going forward, changes to the framework for offshore wind are required to ensure the UK can enhance its energy security whilst keeping costs low.
“Even at higher strike prices than AR5, wind power will still be far cheaper than other technologies while also delivering highly skilled green jobs and associated inward investment.
“The good news is that we now have a window of opportunity to ensure that the next auction round can bring forward the significant volumes of both onshore and offshore wind we need to achieve our energy security targets, unlock billions of pounds of investment, and enable the UK to retain its global leadership position in renewables.
“We stand ready to make these investments and look forward to working constructively with the Government to build on our past successes.”
Sourced by: reNEWS.biz
