Responding to the Government’s announcement on further reforms to the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme for Allocation Round 7, Energy UK’s chief executive, Dhara Vyas said:
“The CfD scheme has been successfully supporting major projects like offshore windfarms for many years now and will continue to play a crucial role in meeting the country’s clean energy ambitions, strengthening our energy security and stabilising bills.
“It’s good to see the scheme evolving to meet the current challenges and attract the investment necessary. In particular, increasing contract lengths will boost the investor confidence essential for developers to commit to large-scale and long-term projects. Investor confidence not only reduces project costs, it also encourages more projects to bid, further increasing the competitive pressure which can reduce prices further.
“While changing the eligibility criteria around planning consent could also increase the number of bidders, we would underline the need for the safeguards outlined by the Government and to continue the focus on timely consenting of projects.
“We look forward to the Government providing more detail around parameters for the next auction soon. Doing so will provide important clarity ahead of the most significant auction to date and help deliver more of our own clean energy sources to reduce the country’s expensive reliance on fossil fuels.”