The UK government has backed reforms that will enable ministers and officials to set capacity ambitions instead of fixed budgets for the Allocation Round 7 Contracts for Difference auction.

Energy department DESNZ said that regulations would be amended to allow for a Contract Budget Notice to be published later in the allocation round process, rather than the current requirement for 10 days before the application window opens.

It added that restrictions would also be lifted to allow the UK energy secretary to examine anonymised price-related bid information in sealed bids and then set the auction budget.

DESNZ argued this would maximise the volume contracted in each round and avoid previous scenarios where budgets were set pre-auction and then were underspent, according to a consultation on wide ranging reforms launched in February.  

The government has pledged to publish a full response to the consultation before AR7 opens.

The response is expected to address all non-legislative proposals including the possible relaxation of eligibility criteria for fixed-bottom projects that are not yet fully consented to participate in auctions.

Sourced by: reNEWS.biz