UK changes crucial wind auction plan: new date set
Winners of AR7's fixed and floating process will now know mid-January after move to single-timeline
The UK government has revamped plans for its crucial next offshore wind auction after appeals threatened to push the results into February next year.
The AR7 allocation round for fixed and floating offshore wind projects will now run to a single timetable rather than a previous version with multiple scenarios – meaning developers should find out on 14 January whether or not they have won a contract for difference (CfD) power deal.
The government published the revised plan on Friday in a move it said would “give timeline certainty and support delivery of AR7 results as soon as possible”.
Sealed bids for the auction will now be submitted between 11 and 17 November.
The old timetable included a scenario under which a second stage of ‘Tier 2’ appeals could have seen results delayed until mid-February, with 16 January the earliest possible notification.
The new single-schedule version instead allows projects making Tier 2 appeals to continue in the process, with their eligibility decided by 28 November.
“We believe providing clarity of a single timeline is more effective than providing different scenarios for different appeals stages,” said the UK’s National Energy Systems Operator, which is running the allocation round for the government.
Britain is counting on AR7 to deliver record levels of capacity if it is to meet its goal of having 43-51GW of offshore wind up and running by 2030.
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