The UK government’s Allocation round 7a (AR7a) of the Contracts for Difference (CfD) auction has awarded a record 4.9GW of solar PV.
This is a more than 1GW increase from the 3.3GW of solar PV awarded in AR6, the previous auction, as covered by our sister site Solar Power Portal.
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On top of awarding a record volume for solar PV, the latest CfD scheme also awarded the most projects overall, with 155 awarded projects compared with 93 in AR6, 12 of which are located in Wales and 11 in Scotland.
The strike price for solar PV ended up being 10% cheaper than the previous allocation round and reached £65.23/MWh (US$89.32/MWh). Using 2024-benchmarked prices, the solar PV strike price was £64.09/MWh in AR4, £65.49/MWh in AR5, and £72.92/MWh in AR6.
Only one Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP)—which are large-scale PV projects of more than 50MW capacity—has been awarded in the AR7a, which is the 480MW West Burton plant from developer Island Green Power.
Josh Cornes, analyst at Solar Media Market Research, said: “With this being the highest capacity allocated in a single CfD round, it was a surprise to see only one NSIP be awarded, with seven having been eligible. Whether this is due to several of those eligible projects being up for sale is yet to be seen.
“Two NSIPs were awarded contracts in AR6, Little Crow and Longfield, and there was an expectation that at least two would also have been awarded in 2026,” he added.
UK energy secretary Ed Miliband said the results of AR7a show “once again” that clean power is the “right choice”. He noted that, according to figures from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), the price for new onshore wind and solar “is over 50% cheaper than the cost of building and operating new gas”.
Results for the latest CfD were also positively welcomed by trade association Solar Energy UK, with its chief executive, Chris Hewett, calling the results a “milestone for the solar sector”, and “proof positive that [solar PV] provides the cheapest power available”.
This article was first published on our sister site Solar Power Portal, which has more details on the results of the latest CfD round.
