Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC) has successfully signed more than 200 Contracts for Difference (CfDs) awarded across Allocation Round 7 (AR7) and Allocation Round 7a (AR7a), enabling 14.7 GW of renewable electricity generation.
AR7 represents a significant increase in scale from previous auctions, delivering contracts across fixed bottom and floating offshore wind, onshore wind, solar, and tidal stream power, reinforcing Great Britain’s position as one of the world’s most attractive markets for renewable investment.
Contracts were awarded across a range of technologies, including:
- 8.2 GW of fixed bottom offshore wind, with a weighted average strike price of £90.91/MWh
- 4.9 GW of solar, secured at strike prices of £65.23/MWh
- 1.3 GW of onshore wind, with a strike price of £72.24/MWh
The outcome demonstrates strong competition across technologies and delivers long-term value for consumers, while providing developers with the revenue certainty needed to invest at scale.
Following the auction, LCCC mobilised an experienced team and utilised digital systems to issue and sign a record number of contracts in line with regulatory obligations to issue the contracts and have them countersigned each within 10 business days.
This includes LCCC’s in-house digital platform, Zero, which now underpins the contract-issuing process once an allocation round is complete.
Zero serves as the central hub for all CfD contract obligations, ensuring that every step from initial contract creation through to long-term delivery is managed seamlessly through a single digital interface.
As the single counterparty to the CfDs, LCCC will manage these contracts over 15-20-year terms, providing a stable and trusted framework that underpins investor confidence and supports delivery of clean power across the whole length of Great Britain.
Building on more than a decade of experience administering the CfD scheme, LCCC continues to deliver efficiency and value for money with a skilled workforce and efforts in automation and digitalisation to issue and manage a record number of contracts while keeping costs down for the consumer.
Among the successful projects in AR7 is Phase B (1.4 GW) of the 4.1 GW Berwick Bank Offshore Wind Farm, which at full build-out will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm, located off the east coast of Scotland.
The round also includes the UK’s largest solar project to be awarded a CfD, West Burton Solar Farm, highlighting the growing role of solar in delivering low-cost power to Great Britain.
With the recent announcement that HM Government intends to expedite timeframes for Allocation Round 8, LCCC will be working to ensure the lessons in efficiency from AR7 are replicated when the next round opens in July.
Dan Sadler Director of Scheme Delivery, LCCC, said: 'Allocation Round 7 demonstrates the continued strength of the Contracts for Difference scheme in delivering low-carbon power and reducing our reliance on global fossil fuel markets. LCCC’s role is to provide certainty and stability over the long term and we are proud to act as a reliable counterparty for these contracts, supporting projects from signature through to operation and beyond. These contracts will act as price stability mechanism over the next 15-20 years, helping to protect from external shocks.'
Source: Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC)
