The UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has confirmed that the upcoming offshore wind auction will be set in August.
The prospective commencement date for the Contract for Difference (CfD) Allocation Round 7 (AR7) is August 7, with applications being received until August 27.
The upcoming round could be one UK’s most important ones as Offshore Energies UK already revealed that the country is not on track to meet its Clean Power 2030 target of between 43 and 51GW of offshore wind capacity.
The organisation stated that the UK needs to secure 8.4GW of new offshore wind capacity in the AR7 round if it wants to stay on course for hitting its desired targets. That big of a number would make AR7 the biggest in history.
Results from the auction are expected between December 2025 and February 2026. The Department also separated offshore wind from other technologies, streamlining the approval process.
Provisional delivery years for fixed and floating offshore wind have also been set. The projects should be delivered in 2028-29 for fixed and 2029-30 for floating wind. Final confirmation of the delivery years will be confirmed before the round opens.
The UK set out a budget of £20.1m ($27.2m) per GW of capacity applying for a Clean Industry Bonus, with a total budget of more than £544m ($736m).
The government is also considering allowing fixed-bottom offshore wind projects that have not received planning consent to be part of the tender.
