On April 24, 2023, applications for the recently launched fifth allocation cycle of the UK’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) system will be accepted no longer.
Allocation Round 5 (AR5), which was introduced on Thursday, has a GBP 205 million budget. The first round that runs annually as opposed to every two years is this one.
For the first time, offshore wind and remote island wind are included in the GBP-170 million pool for established technologies that is included in the auction. With GBP 10 million set aside exclusively for tidal stream technologies, the second pot will give out GBP 35 million to new technologies including geothermal and floating offshore wind.
Offshore wind and floating offshore wind have administrative strike prices (ASPs) set at GBP 44/MWh and GBP 116/MWh, respectively. Onshore wind and remote island wind have ASPs of GBP 53/MWh, whereas the ASP for solar is GBP 47/MWh.
The UK’s objective to have 50 GW of turbines placed in its seas by 2030 is supported by the CfD assistance program. At the previous auction, about 11 GW of clean energy capacity was distributed.