UK announces plans to reform subsidy schemes in order to accelerate green energy projects
The British Government on Friday announced plans to reform its flagship Contracts for Difference scheme (CfD), which will remove planning obstacles and accelerate green energy projects in particular offshore wind farms.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, (DESNZ), has announced that it will relax eligibility criteria for planning consent for offshore fixed-bottom wind and extend the CfD contract beyond its current 15 year term.
CfDs is a government-backed price guarantee for electricity producers.
The government also wants to alter the way that budgets are published and set for offshore wind, including the ability to view bid data in an anonymous form. ?
Last year, the UK awarded contracts for CfD to a record-breaking number of projects, totaling 9.6 gigawatts. Most of these were offshore wind.
A seventh round (AR7) will be held later this year. The government has also launched a program to support the renewable energy industry in the country.
Ed Miliband, Energy Secretary, said: "Our bold reforms will provide developers with the certainty they require to build clean energy projects in the UK. This will support our mission to become the clean energy superpower of the world and to bring down energy bills for good."
The UK has already installed or committed to 30.7 GW offshore wind, and a further capacity of 7.2 GW, as compared to a target capacity of 43-50GW for its clean energy by 2030.
In addition, the latest plans propose that CfD be made available to onshore wind projects seeking to increase their capacity (so-called repowering).
As a temporary measure the government also wants to stop generators that have CfDs from entering surrendered capacities from previous allocation rounds into AR7.
The DESNZ stated that stakeholders are invited to consult with the government on reforms of the CfD up until 21 March, and a response is expected before the AR7 round. (Reporting and editing by David Evans; Nora Buli)
(source: Reuters)
