UK offshore wind auction secures 8.4 GW

• a day ago (2026-01-15)
• David Flin

Europe 1154 Offshore wind 128

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The UK Government has announced that its latest auction for offshore wind, Contracts for Difference AR7, has secured 8.4 GW.

This is the biggest single procurement of offshore wind energy in Europe to date, and is expected to unlock around £22 billion in private investment.

According to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), offshore wind is cheaper to build and operate than new gas, based on the Levelised Cost of Energy industry metric. DESNZ said that the cost of building and operating a new gas-fired power station is £147/MWh. By contrast, the results for fixed offshore wind in the auction were £90.91/MWh on average.

Successful projects include fixed offshore wind at Dogger Bank South off the coast of Yorkshire, Norfolk Vanguard off East Anglia, Berwick Bank in the North Sea, and Awel Y Mor off Wales.

The results also include progress in floating offshore wind, with winning projects including Erebus in the Celtic Sea and Pentland in Scotland.