The UK government has confirmed plans to hold biennial auctions for offshore wind subsidies as part of a push to double capacity in the sector over the next decade, giving companies greater certainty around investment decisions. The move, to be announced by Energy & Clean Growth minister Claire Perry later on Monday, will see the next subsidy auction take place in May 2019, and follows dramatic drops of as much as 50 per cent for the costs of developing wind farms on the UK coast.

Renewable UK said the plan would help offshore wind capacity — which provided 6 per cent of UK power in 2017 — almost double over the next decade. The falling cost of offshore wind generation is likely to raise questions over the UK government’s policy of supporting nuclear development, however, including the Hinkley Point plant in Somerset. Kate Blagojevic, Head of Energy at Greenpeace UK, said that while they welcomed the auction plans the cost of developing offshore and onshore wind and solar generation was now far cheaper than nuclear. Financial Times

Other contents