Government confirms GBP0.5bn of clean energy funds for next CFD auction
Green energy developers will be able to compete for up to £557m of government funding in electricity auctions planned by the government to boost "less established" renewable energy.
Energy minister Richard Harrington confirmed on Wednesday that the funding will be made available to companies via contracts-for-difference auctions, though the next will not be held until the spring of 2019.
Harrington's Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy preferred this method of distributing funding, pointing to the last auction of offshore wind, which saw the cost generated electricity halved compared to the first auction in 2015 and secured energy capacity to power 3.6m homes.
Low carbon generation provided 52% of UK electricity this summer, according to National Grid, while analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopes found the UK is decarbonising faster than any other G20 nation.
Harrington will publish the government’s Clean Growth Strategy this week, which he said would "set out how the whole of the UK can benefit from the global move to a low carbon economy".
"We’ve shown beyond doubt that renewable energy projects are an effective way to cut our emissions, while creating thousands of good jobs and attracting billions of pounds worth of investment."