Solar developers have secured record levels of government support in the UK’s annual renewables Contracts for Difference (CfD) auction, Allocation Round 6 (AR6).
The results were announced on September 3 by the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), which described the round as the country’s most successful renewables auction to date.
In total, developers secured CfDs for 93 ground-based solar projects, with a combined capacity of 3,288.31 MW, under AR6.
This put solar closely behind offshore wind developers, which led the auction results with CfDs awarded for a combined 3,363.07 MW of capacity.
The majority of CfDs for solar projects went to projects in England, which accounted for 2,897.36 MW of capacity.
Contracts were also awarded to 316.07 MW worth of solar schemes in Scotland and 74.88 MW of projects in Wales.
Based on the targeted commissioning dates of the projects involved, 884 MW has been contracted for delivery in 2026, a further 509 MW in 2027 and 1,895 MW in 2028.
The results included solar farms with a capacity above 50 MW securing a CfD for the first time, trade association Solar Energy UK noted in its response to the AR6 announcement.
AR6 solar energy projects
The largest of these, EDF Renewables UK’s Longfield project in Hertfordshire, received a contract for 299 MW of its planned 420-MW capacity.
And INRG Solar’s 150-MW Little Crow Solar Park project in Lincolnshire gained a CfD for 99.9 MW, or two-thirds of its capacity.
Both Longfield and Little Crow were approved nationally rather than by a local authority, Solar Energy UK noted.
© Supplied by BSRIt added that three solar farms with Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) status that were approved by the new Labour government in July may be expected to receive CfDs next year.
The strike price for solar farms in AR6 was £50.07 per MWh, up slightly from £47 per MWh price agreed for AR5 in 2022.
With the strike price for conventional offshore wind at £50.90 per MWh in AR6, the prices for wind and solar power are lower than the wholesale cost of electricity, with Solar Energy UK citing weekly average forward delivery contracts at £61-87 per MWh this year.
Solar and wind ‘cheapest source of power’
“Today’s welcome announcements demonstrate yet again that solar and wind power are the cheapest source of power available in the UK,” stated Solar Energy UK’s director of policy and delivery, Gemma Grimes.
“It is hugely encouraging to see an unprecedented volume of solar generation capacity contracted, enough to put a meaningful dent into future electricity prices.”
Grimes added, however, that similar levels of contracted capacity would be needed each year to meet the UK’s net-zero ambitions in the long term.
© Supplied by Lightsource BPTo reach the government’s solar energy target of 50 GW by 2030, Solar Energy UK estimates that an average of 3.3 GW per year of ground-mounted capacity would have to be delivered over the remainder of the 2020s.
It noted that this figure is “very close” to the amount cleared in this year’s CfD auction.
The previous record for solar capacity gaining CfDs was set in AR4 in 2022, when 66 solar projects with a combined capacity of 2,209 MW gained CfDs.
AR6 budget increase
This year, the new government increased the CfD auction budget to £1.5b, including an extra £65m for the auction’s Pot 1, which is open to solar projects exceeding 5 MW.
“The CfD system is currently working well for solar,” said Grimes.
“We look forward to future allocation rounds and will work with the government to deliver the capacity necessary to meet its renewable energy targets. Having greater visibility of future budgets for the years to come would help achieve this.”
While offshore wind dominated AR6, solar and onshore wind accounted for a combined 115 projects in this auction round, which is more than the total number of projects delivered in the previous auction round.
UK Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Ed Miliband welcomed the record solar result from AR6 as bolstering the UK government’s mission for a “solar revolution”.
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