BEIS Faces CfD Legal Challenge, Postpones Closing Date

The UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is facing a legal dispute regarding the current Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme.

According to BEIS, the National Grid has contacted qualifying applicants to inform them of the legal challenge and has extended the bidding window which will now close on 29 August.

“Our Contracts for Difference scheme has supported the investment of £490m annually in renewable technologies and more than 50% of our energy now comes from low-carbon sources – a vital part of our move to becoming a net zero emissions economy by 2050. We run the scheme lawfully and will be contesting this claim,” a spokesperson from BEIS said.

BEIS opened the third CfD allocation round at the end of May, in which a total of 6GW of renewable energy capacity will be allocated. The selected projects are scheduled to come online in 2023-2024 and 2024-2025.

The next round is scheduled for 2021 and every two years or so from then on. Depending on the price achieved, the auctions are expected to deliver up to 2GW of offshore wind each year in the 2020s.