The UK government has awarded a record number of renewable energy projects, with funding of £227 million. The projects, which include solar, onshore wind, tidal and geothermal, will generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 2 million homes.
The funding comes from the government's flagship Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme, which guarantees a price for renewable energy projects, giving them the certainty they need to invest.
NEW: 95 renewable energy projects including tidal, solar and onshore wind will benefit from the government’s flagship renewables scheme.
— Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (@energygovuk) September 8, 2023
A record number and enough to power the equivalent of 2 million homes.
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The latest round of CfD auctions saw a record number of successful projects, with half of the total capacity secured by new solar projects. Onshore wind projects also performed well, delivering almost 1.5GW of capacity.
The latest round also saw a £10 million ringfenced budget for tidal stream help to return a record 11 projects, with a record capacity of over 50MW. There are also three winning projects for geothermal for the first time in the scheme's history, totalling 12MW of capacity.
The government is committed to its ambition of securing 50GW of offshore wind capacity and 5GW of floating offshore wind by 2030. However, offshore and floating offshore wind did not feature in this year's allocation, due to the global rise in inflation and the impact on supply chains.
Despite this, the government remains committed to the offshore wind industry and is already gearing up for the sixth round of auctions in 2024.
This record investment in renewable energy is a major step forward for the UK's clean energy transition. It will help to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, create jobs and boost the economy.
Here are some of the key benefits of this investment:
- It will help to reduce the UK's reliance on fossil fuels, which are a major contributor to climate change.
- It will create jobs in the renewable energy sector, which is a growing industry.
- It will boost the UK economy by attracting investment from overseas.
- It will help to make the UK a global leader in renewable energy.
The UK government is committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050. This investment is a major step towards that goal.
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