In its 2016 annual Budget, the UK government announced plans to allocate GBP 730m ($1bn) by 2021 to offshore wind farms and other less-established renewable energy technologies, sticking to its low-carbon commitment while moving support away from the more established technologies of onshore wind and solar PV. A series of auctions will be held over the next few years to allocate the funding, with a requirement to hit tightening price targets for offshore wind as the auction programme unfolds. Project developers bidding in the first GBP 290m auction set for this year will need to meet a price cap of GBP 105/MWh to be in with a chance of winning support. The 4GW cap also means that “only a third of the estimated 12GW offshore wind pipeline to 2026 could be supported, if offshore wind were to win all the subsidy allocated,” according to BNEF forecasts, as detailed in an Analyst Reaction on the UK 2016 Budget.
Renew Economy 23rd March 2016 read more »