AR7a budgets announced ahead of CfD auction

The Government has confirmed the budget for non-offshore wind technologies in the upcoming CfD round.

A pot of £310m will be available under AR7a with Pot 1, for established technologies, including onshore wind and solar, being allocated £295m, and Pot 2, for less established technologies such as wave power, securing £15m.

Administrative strike prices have been confirmed as £92/MWh for onshore wind and £75/MWh for solar, based on 2024 prices.

In October, the Government announced a record budget of more than £1bn for offshore wind under AR7. Some £900m has been made available to fixed-bottom projects in Pot 3 with a further £180m for floating wind projects competing in Pot 4.

James Clark, Business Development Manager said “The increase in budgets year-on-year is a positive signal, with AR7 set to play a crucial role in delivering projects at the scale and pace needed to stay on track for 2030 targets. The early publication of budgets is another strong step forward, a reform aimed at cutting uncertainty for developers and helping prevent the underspends we’ve seen in previous rounds.”

DESNZ recently confirmed that the AR7a auctions will progress according to the slowest of the five timelines, with the bidding window opening in early January and results expected in early February.