The UK government has completed its largest‑ever Contracts for Difference allocation round, awarding more than 6.2 GW of tariff support across solar, onshore wind and tidal stream as part of the second results phase for the current round.

Allocation round seven awarded a total of 14.7 GW of new incentives when including the offshore and floating wind results which were announced in mid-January.

The latest batch of winners, published February 10, was led by solar which accounted for the single largest share of awards, with 4.9 GW contracted across 157 entries, representing the biggest solar procurement ever achieved in a UK CfD round.

Onshore wind capacity of 1.3 GW was awarded across 28 projects, marking the strongest round for the technology in more than a decade.

Meanwhile, tidal stream awards totalled 20.9 MW across four projects, reinforcing past CfD support for marine energy technologies.

The clearing price for new solar generation was GBP 65.23 /MWh, while onshore wind cleared at GBP 72.24 /MWh (both in 2024 prices).

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero estimates that the awarded projects will unlock around GBP 5bn of private‑sector investment.

Among the onshore wind projects awarded, CWP Energy’s 308 MW Sanquhar II in Dumfries and Galloway secured contracts for a combined 269.4 MW across two phases, making it one of the largest projects in the round.

ESB and Coriolis also bagged a 124.8 MW contract for the Glendye wind farm in Aberdeen shire, while Bute Energy seized a 93.8 MW tariff for Twyn Hywel project.

Other large wind awards went to Invenergy’s Pencloe (72 MW), Onpath’s Lethans Extension (70 MW), RES’s Cairn Duhie (67.2 MW), Thrive’s Whitelaw Brae (60.2 MW), RWE’s Clachaig Glen (52.8 MW) and BayWa’s High Constellation (50 MW) wind farm.

Meanwhile, the 19.96 MW Imerys wind farm in Cornwall being progressed by Elm Trading, became the largest onshore wind project awarded in England in more than 10 years owing to the recently lifted de facto ban on new onshore wind developments in the country.

Other successful onshore schemes span a wide geographic and ownership base, including projects backed by developers and investors such as Boralex, Eden Renewables, Energiekontor, Farm Energy Company, GreenPower International, Muirhall Energy, Nadara, Pennant Walters, Wind Estate, Wind2 and WWS.

Solar winners

Solar awards were similarly diverse, ranging from 5 MW community‑linked projects to large Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects.

Island Green Power’s 605 MW West Burton development, with an overall CfD capacity of around 480 MW across three phases, became the largest solar project ever to secure CfD support and is located at the site of the UK’s last coal‑fired power station.

Following in size, a large swathe of near-50 MW assets also secured tariffs, including Endurance Energy’s Garendon, Infinis’s Oaklands and California, AGR’s Little Hale, Cenin Renewables’s Parc Dyffryn, Metlen’s Stowey Road, Luminous Energy’s Cattybrook, Elgin Energy’s Fernishaw Farm, PS Renewables’s Pilmoor, RWE’s Belvoir, Raspberry and Brinsea, Voltalia’s North Weald, Harmony Energy’s Old Malton, Chint Solar’s Burcot, Iolo Energy’s Pen Onn Farm, Bluefield’s Lower Tean Leys, Ridge Clean Energy’s Fair Oaks, Aura Power’s Moreton Brook, RES’s Longhedge, Qair’s Lark Hill and European Energy’s Church Farm.

Other successful solar bidders included Anesco, Anglo Renewables, Aukera, BayWa, Boultbee Brooks, Caerphilly Council, Canadian Solar, Downing, Eden Renewables, EDF, Energiekontor, Enray Power, Enviromena, Exagen, Gravis, Greenspan Energy, Greentech, Grenergy, Grupotec, Gulermak, Hive Energy / Ethical Power, Innova, Lightsource BP, Locogen, Low Carbon, Octopus, Noventum Power, Opdenergy, Pathfinder Clean Energy, Pelagic Energy, Shell, Stark Energy, Statera, Statkraft, TotalEnergies, Triple Point and Windel, among others.

Tidal stream awards included projects within the Morlais Demonstration Zone off Anglesey, such as QED Marine Projects’s 5.5 MW Mor Energy Phase 2 at 5.5 MW and Tidal Technologies’s 3 MW W1.

Orbital Marine Power secured support for the 2.4 MW Eday 5 project in Orkney, likely deploying a single Orbital O2 turbine at the European Marine Energy Centre.

The largest tidal award, Ynni’r Lleuad 3, secured 10 MW and is being developed by HydroWing in partnership with Welsh stakeholders.

*This story was originally published exclusively for NPM subscribers.