The UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) yesterday informed it intends to make the proposed amendment to the Contracts for Difference (CfD) Allocation Regulations set in 2014 to extend the delivery years for projects to 31 March 2026.
Under the current regulations, allocation rounds and their associated budgets can only be made available for projects commissioning by 31 March 2020. By amending the regulations, the UK Government can undertake allocation rounds for projects commissioning after 31 March 2020 and provide investors with long-term foresight of the delivery framework.
The amendment was proposed in July 2016 by the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), now part of BEIS, which had opened consultation period that closed on 8 August.
“We received 24 responses. All of the responses were in agreement with the proposed amendment and none raised new issues relevant to the question asked,” BEIS said yesterday.
In the Budget 2016 , the UK Government has set aside up to £730 million (approx. €929 million) of support under the Contracts for Difference framework for offshore wind and other less established renewable generation technologies for projects commissioning in the period 2021-2026.
“If we did not make this amendment, we would be unable to open up allocation rounds for delivery years after 31 March 2020,” DECC said at the time of proposing the amendment to the CfD regime.