September 13 (Renewables Now) - Support of GBP 265 million (USD 368m/EUR 311m) per year will be provided to renewable electricity generation projects in the fourth round of the UK’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme, the UK government announced on Monday.

The scheme, which allocates 15-year CfDs, is due to open in December.

The total support is split across three pots, with the pot budget for offshore wind projects set at GBP 200 million. Emerging renewables technologies will be backed with GBP 55 million, of which GBP 24 million has been ringfenced for floating offshore projects.

The remaining pot envisages GBP 10 million of support for established technologies such as onshore wind and solar, which were previously excluded from the scheme. The government wants to back 5 GW of capacity with this budget and plans limits of 3.5 GW for both onshore wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies.

The figures are according to a draft budget plan. The government will today also publish a draft allocation framework for the fourth CfD round and a strike price methodology note.

Via the upcoming round the government will seek to double the renewables capacity secured in the third round. It said the offshore wind capacity delivered as a result of the new round could power around 8 million homes. This calculation is based on the estimated consented pipeline for offshore wind of around 7 GW.

The outcome of the third allocation round was announced in September 2019. A total of 5.8 GW of projects were successful, including 5.5 GW of offshore wind.

(GBP 1 = USD 1.389/EUR 1.173)

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