Clean energy budget increase is welcome, but could go further to maximise private investment

6 March 2024  - RenewableUK press release

• Uplift in clean energy budget is welcome, but opportunity to maximise offshore wind capacity in this year’s auction has been missed.


• Industry has 10 gigawatts of offshore wind eligible to bid into this auction – this auction design will only secure 3 to 5 gigawatts. However, this will still attract over £8 billion in private investment and create 10,000 jobs in the UK.


• UK needs to make up ground from last year’s auction which secured no new offshore wind capacity, to deliver cheap clean power, energy security and supply chain jobs.


• We need to ensure each auction round maximises the volume of clean energy procured so that the UK can meet its targets, grow its industrial capability and create jobs, improve energy security and reduce emissions.


• The industry stands ready to work with government to ensure this auction can maximise the volume of renewable energy secured.

Commenting on the Government’s announcement that more than £1 billion of funding will be available for this year’s auction for new clean energy projects (Allocation Round 6), and that £800 million of this will be available for new offshore wind  farms, RenewableUK’s Chief Executive Dan McGrail said:

“We welcome this budget increase, as it recognises that global economic conditions have changed, and it will secure a significant amount of new offshore wind capacity and private investment, as well as creating thousands of new jobs.

“However, the Treasury has missed the opportunity to maximise the amount of capacity which the UK could have secured in this year’s auction for new offshore wind farms.  We have more than 10 gigawatts of capacity eligible to bid in this summer. Building this is essential if we’re to make up lost ground from last year’s auction and create the substantial pipeline required to accelerate supply chain investment and growth in the UK. This funding will only secure between 3 to 5 gigawatts.

“This means a delay in attracting billions of pounds in private investment which we could have secured in this year’s auction to build and operate these projects, and opportunities to grow our supply chain to provide goods and services for projects here and abroad will not be maximised”.  

RenewableUK’s latest EnergyPulse Insights Offshore Wind Report shows that 14 offshore wind farms are currently eligible to bid into this year’s auction (AR6) for Contracts for Difference (CfDs), totalling nearly 10.3 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity.

Dan McGrail added: “Offshore wind is one of the UK’s cheapest sources of new power and is vital in boosting our energy security and independence from expensive imported gas. That’s why we’re urging Ministers to be more ambitious in revising this year’s auction budget upwards if new projects are consented in time, and to aim high in future annual auction rounds. This would enable them to get closer to their own target of 50 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030 – over three times our current capacity. At the current pace, this target looks unachievable.

“This is crucial at a time of intense competition in the international offshore wind market, in which the UK is a global leader - although  many other countries are taking bold steps to try to steal our crown by offering attractive incentives to build projects elsewhere”.

The UK currently has 14.7GW of fully operational offshore wind, which generates 14% of our electricity a year. Just one gigawatt of offshore wind generates enough electricity to power over a million British homes for a year. 

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