The Brittish government has announced the results of the third round of Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme for less established renewable technologies: 95% of the awarded capacities were attributed to wind offshore projects (5.5 GW), 5% to wind onshore projects located on remoted islands (275 MW), while biogas technologies received approval for only 30 MW of projects.
Compared to the previous auction, held in 2017, offshore wind costs have dropped by 30%, reaching £39.65/MWh (€45/MWh), which is lower than the current wholesale price, and significantly lower than the £92.50/MWh (€105/MWh) CfD awarded in 2016 to the Hinkley Point C nuclear project. The winning bidders include Equinor and SSE (DoggerBank Creak and Doggerbank Teeside, 3.6 GW) and innogy (Sofia, 1.4 GW). The partners plan to make final investment decision (FID) for the first projects during 2020, while first power is planned to be injected into the grid in 2023.
The UK has around 8 GW of installed offshore wind capacity.
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