Recharge’s “‘Local content wishful thinking’ | UK warned green power price-cutting success has sting in tail” is a summary of industry reaction to the results of the UK Government Round Four CfD Auction.
Mike Blanch is quoted extensively, including :
“…the latest fall in winning offshore wind bids in this week’s record 7GW allocation to £37.35/MWh ($44.6/MWh) at 2012 prices, from £39.65/MWh seen in the last round in 2019, was consistent with the industry’s long-term direction of travel, despite the inflationary pressures bearing down on the sector.”
“… with developers desperate to keep their projects in the game by winning contract-for-difference (CfD) power deals, supporting UK supply chain investments and the potential costs that come with them could be sacrificed to underpin the low bid prices.”
“Developers have to work out how much they’re going to put into bidding cost reduction or take some of the hit and put it into UK supply chain. That’s not to say UK supply chain is always more expensive, but we are talking about people investing in new stuff.”
“As long as the government [operates the system] purely on price… it’s wishful thinking to suggest you’re going to get significantly more UK content.”
“… UK system continues to be highly effective in delivering ever cheaper offshore wind, including this time a “competitive” debut of £87.3/MWh for 32MW of floating wind.”
You can read the article in full here: ‘Local content wishful thinking’ | UK warned green power price-cutting success has sting in tail. (subscription required).
