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UPDATED 1 Sept: The EI library in London is temporarily closed to the public, as a precautionary measure in light of the ongoing COVID-19 situation. The Knowledge Service will still be answering email queries via email , or via live chats during working hours (09:15-17:00 GMT). Our e-library is always open for members here: eLibrary , for full-text access to over 200 e-books and millions of articles. Thank you for your patience.
Eight major new renewables projects win supply contracts
Eight major renewable electricity projects have been offered under Contracts for Difference (CfD), which form part of government’s Electricity Market Reform programme. They include offshore wind farms, coal-to-biomass conversions and a dedicated biomass plant with combined heat and power.
By 2020, the projects will provide up to £12bn of private sector investment, supporting 8,500 jobs, and they could add a further 4.5 GW of low carbon electricity to Britain’s energy mix (or around 4% of capacity), generating enough clean electricity to power over three million homes – according to the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Once built, the projects will contribute around 15 TWh, or 14% of the renewable electricity expected to come forward by 2020, helping to put the UK well on the way to meeting its renewable energy target. They will also reduce emissions by 10mn tonnes of carbon dioxide per year compared to fossil fuel power generation.
The eight successful projects have been awarded contracts under the Final Investment Decision (FID) Enabling for Renewables process, allocating the first CfDs that are being introduced through the Electricity Market Reform programme. Under CfDs, generators and developers receive a fixed strike price for the electricity they produce for 15 years. The contracts are vital to give investors the confidence they need to pay the up-front costs of major new infrastructure projects.
Projects include the Beatrice, Burbo Bank, Dudgeon, Hornsea 1 and Walney extension offshore wind farms; together with biomass conversion plants at Drax and Lynemouth, and a biomass CHP plant at Teesside.
The contracts are supported by the new legislative framework introduced through the Energy Act 2013. Further CfDs will be made available in the autumn, says DECC.
Energy and Climate Change Secretary Edward Davey said: ‘These contracts for major renewable electricity projects mark a new stage in Britain's green energy investment boom. These are the first investments from our reforms to build the world’s first low carbon electricity market – reforms which will see competition and markets attract tens of billions of pounds of vital energy investment whilst reducing the costs of clean energy to consumers.’
News Item details
Journal title: Energy World
Subjects: Trading, Policy and Governance, Electricity generation, Offshore wind power, Combined heat and power generation, Biomass, Biomass, Wind farms, Jobs, Offshore wind farms, Carbon dioxide
