The latest renewables auction has seen the biggest single procurement of offshore wind energy in British and European history, it has been claimed.
The news follows the previous Auction Round 5 in which not a single offshore wind project was secured, with Contracts for Difference AR7 securing a record capacity of 8.4GW of offshore wind. As a result, this capacity will generate enough clean electricity to power the equivalent of 12 million homes.
In new figures using the LCOE industry metric, the cost of building and operating a new gas fired power station is £147 per megawatt hour, while fixed offshore wind in this auction were £90.91 per megawatt hour on average – 40% cheaper than the cost of building and operating new gas.
This auction will unlock around £22 billion in private investment and support around 7,000 jobs, with schemes in Dogger Bank, Berwick Bank and Awel Y Mor in Wales.
Energy Secretary, Ed Miliband, said:
“With these results, Britain is taking back control of our energy sovereignty. This is a historic win for those who want Britain to stand on our own two feet, controlling our own energy rather than depending on markets controlled by petrostates and dictators.
“It is a monumental step towards clean power by 2030 and the price secured in this auction is 40% lower than the alternative cost of building and operating a new gas plant.
“Clean, homegrown, power is the right choice for this country to bring down bills for good and this auction will create thousands of jobs throughout Britain.”
Head of Mission Control, Chris Stark, said:
“This is a stonking result for delivering on our mission for clean power by 2030. Amid global headwinds and pressures facing the offshore wind sector in recent years, we’ve secured a record amount of capacity at a competitive price for the consumer.
“We need more offshore wind to meet the increasing demand for electricity in the years ahead, this result powers us towards a future of clean, secure, energy abundance and less reliance on foreign imports.”
Neil McDermott, CEO at the Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC), said:
“The results from this allocation round are a prime example of the Contracts for Difference mechanism’s greatest strengths, providing certainty for investors and supporting British jobs across the country.
“At LCCC, we’re proud of our role in managing these contracts, adding to our existing operational portfolio of more than 10 GW with an additional 25 GW in the pipeline, and providing stewardship of these projects for the next two decades.”
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