Next UK offshore wind auction delayed by appeals

The UK’s next auction for renewable energy projects has been pushed back by at least two months, creating uncertainty for developers and the marine supply chain.

The eighth Contracts for Difference (CfD) allocation round (AR8) was initially expected to open for bids on at the beginning of this month, with results due by early December.

The government has now decided to pursue the longest of five possible timetables, with bidding now pencilled in for 3–9 December, with results expected on 15–17 February. NESO is due to confirm the bidding dates on 19 November.

The delay is down to appeals from applicants whose projects were ruled ineligible to take part in the auction. These applicants have challenged those decisions, and the regulator Ofgem has until November 18 to consider the appeals before the auction can proceed.

The government has chosen not to use an alternative process that would allow the auction to move ahead while some applications are still being challenged.

AR8 has five possible timetables, depending on how qualification reviews and appeals progress. The government has now confirmed that it will follow the process that takes the longest; the previous round, AR7, allowed the auction process to progress while some applications remained unresolved.

As well as fixed-bottom and floating wind, technologies that will go under the hammer include:  solar, onshore wind, tidal stream, wave power, anaerobic digestion, geothermal, hydropower, landfill gas and sewage gas, biomass and energy from waste, and advanced conversion technologies.