A new report published by RenewableUK shows that the Government has an opportunity to secure a record number of new offshore wind farms, and record amount of new capacity, in this year's auction for contracts to generate clean power (Contracts for Difference).

In a huge boost to the UK’s energy security, the Government has the potential to double the country’s offshore wind capacity in this year’s auction alone, from the current 14.7GW of fully operational offshore wind, which generates 14 per cent of the UK’s electricity needs.

The latest EnergyPulse Insights Offshore Wind report reveals that 14 wind farms are already eligible to bid into this year’s CfD auction (Allocation Round 6), providing nearly 10.3GW of new capacity. The previous records were set in 2022 when 8.5GW was eligible across 7 projects.

In addition to this, a further 4.7GW of new offshore wind capacity (out of 8.7GW in the planning system) could become eligible before applications open for AR6 at the end of March. If these projects were to receive consent from the Government, 14.9GW of offshore wind capacity would be eligible for this year’s auction. The report notes that being eligible does not mean that projects will choose to bid in, but they have the potential to do so.

The report also shows that a further 5.2GW are already under construction in UK waters, and it forecasts that nearly 45GW could be fully operational by the end of 2030.

Global operational offshore wind capacity has reached over 70GW for the first time up from 62GW at this time last year, a 12.5 per cent increase. The top countries in terms of installed capacity are China (34.7GW), the UK (14.7GW), and Germany (8.3GW).

The global total pipeline of projects in all stages of development (operational, under construction, consented, in the planning system or in early development) now stands at 1,078GW across 1,461 projects in 41 countries; China is top with 195.5GW, the UK second at 99.5GW and Sweden third with 85GW. The report forecasts that total global capacity could reach over 340GW by the end of 2030 - almost a fivefold increase from today.

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