The UK continues to bet big on renewables, aiming for a 95% clean electricity supply, and has awarded a record volume of solar and onshore wind capacity in its latest Contracts for Difference (CfD) auction.
The UK awarded 4.9 gigawatts (GW) across 157 solar farm projects, the largest ever procurement of solar power capacity in the country, the government said on Tuesday.
Onshore wind capacity of 1.3 GW across 28 projects also secured record awards in the latest CfD auction, after the UK removed in 2024 the de facto ban on onshore wind in England, which was in place since 2015.
Tidal capacity of a total of 20.9 MW across four projects also secured CfD.
Both new onshore and new solar capacity was agreed at under half the cost of building and operating new gas power stations, the UK government said.
“With each new solar and onshore wind project we reduce Britain’s reliance on gas power plants, insulating families from the next spike in global gas prices,” said Chris Stark, Head of Mission Control.
The solar and onshore wind capacity auction follows last month’s record-breaking 8.4 GW capacity of offshore wind.
Combined with the offshore wind results, the government has now secured a record 201 projects, which will generate a total of 14.7 GW of new clean power – enough to supply the equivalent of 16 million homes, the UK government said.
The UK aims to have at least 43 GW of offshore wind by 2030 to meet its clean power target. To compare, current offshore wind capacity is 16.6 GW while another 11.7 GW is under construction.
The British government has an ambition to have as much as 95% of all electricity coming from low-carbon energy sources by 2030, including renewables and nuclear.
However, the UK will find it very challenging to connect all projects to the grid, analysts say.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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