RWE welcomes success for onshore and solar projects in latest UK CFD auction

RWE, the UK’s leading power producer, has been awarded Contracts for Difference for nine of its new renewable energy projects in the latest Auction Round 5.

The CfD awards have been made to RWE by the Low Carbon Contracts Company, on behalf of the UK Government, following successful bids for three onshore, four solar and two solar co-located with battery storage renewable energy projects (For more information on the projects please see the table at the end of page 2). The inflation-indexed strike price for our onshore projects was £52.29/MWh and £47.00/MWh for solar, (based on 2012 prices).

The RWE projects together account for over 450 megawatts (MW) of new UK renewable electricity generation capacity, capable of powering hundreds of thousands of homes, supporting local supply chains and jobs, and making an important contribution to the UK’s ambitions for net zero and security of supply. The auction success also demonstrates RWE’s continued ambition to invest up to £15 billion by 2030 in new UK clean energy infrastructure, including the construction of RWE’s first large-scale UK solar projects, following the acquisition of JBM Solar last year. The first projects are expected to get underway later this year with full construction to follow in 2024.

Katja Wünschel, CEO Onshore Wind and Solar Europe & Australia at RWE Renewables: “Today’s auction success clearly demonstrates RWE’s drive and ambition to continue to develop onshore wind and drive forward an ambitious solar portfolio, beginning with the construction of our first solar project in the UK, as one of the country's leading solar energy partners. It’s an important success for the teams supporting those technologies, especially those behind our rapidly expanding new solar business in the UK. The expansion of renewable energies must be swift and decisive if we’re to achieve the government’s net zero targets and RWE is playing its part by targeting the rapid deployment of an exciting pipeline of new onshore and solar projects.”

The UK has a historic reputation as an international exemplar in the delivery of renewable energy projects via the CfD mechanism,  supporting the development of the most advanced offshore wind market globally. However, in this latest auction round, no offshore wind projects were successful in securing CfD offers.

Tom Glover RWE UK Country Chair: “Whilst we are delighted with the success of onshore and solar technologies in this year's auction we are very concerned that no offshore wind capacity was secured. It is hugely important, given the UK’s notable clean energy and net zero ambitions, that opportunities to bring forward the further deployment of low cost renewables be maximised for all viable technologies in all future auctions, including offshore wind as well as onshore wind and solar. It was therefore very disappointing that, despite clear warnings from the industry, the Government took no action to address the rising costs for all renewable technologies and the supply chain challenges they face.  We now believe that the UK’s ambitions for a five-fold offshore wind growth by 2030 and a net zero power system by 2035 are unlikely to be met without decisive government action - our industry needs the certainty of stable, future CfD Auction Rounds based on sustainable pricing, separate pots for offshore wind, and realistic assumptions.”

RWE is the leading power generator in the UK, supplying around 15% of the country’s electricity, with a diverse operational portfolio of renewables including onshore wind, offshore wind, hydro and biomass with a combined installed capacity of over 2.79 gigawatts (GW) (pro rata), 4.8 GW (installed capacity.) The company has a strong renewable development pipeline for both onshore and offshore technologies.  Onshore we are planning to scale-up from our current UK portfolio of 33 operational wind farms through exploring the potential of a further 22 UK onshore wind projects and a further 4.4GW of UK solar projects in development.

We also have six offshore wind farms in development around the UK coastline, making us a key partner in helping the Government achieve its target of deploying 50GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030.

RWE’s successful AR5 projects are: