Government Auction Fails to Award Contracts for Offshore Wind Projects for 1st Time

New funding round secured a record number of projects, but the energy they are set to produce is around one-third of what was secured last year.
Government Auction Fails to Award Contracts for Offshore Wind Projects for 1st Time
Waves break out at sea in front of Burbo Bank Offshore Wind Farm near New Brighton, at the mouth of the river Mersey in northwest England on March 13, 2019. Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images
|Updated:
0:00

A key government auction for renewable energy has failed to award any contracts to offshore wind projects, dealing a blow to the government’s hopes of decarbonising the UK’s electricity production.

It’s the first time offshore wind has been excluded from receiving a contract in the annual Contracts for Difference (CfD) auction, which helps guarantee a stable price for the energy a generator would produce so it can invest with more certainty.