Ministers urged not to delay next renewables allocations

摘要

The Department for Energy and Climate Change's commercial director has urged the next government to expedite its next funding allocations under its Electricity Market Reform programme. Hugo Robson was speaking at an infrastructure conference ahead of this week's announcement of the winners of the auction for £260m in so-called "contracts for difference" (CfD) for less-established power schemes, such as offshore wind and biomass. A further £6Sm for more established onshore wind and solar projects was also set to be announced. Robson told the event, organised by KPMG, that the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) now had a framework in place that it was happy with. He said ministers' focus should be on the budgets for the next CfD auctions. CfDs aim to provide certainty for investors in new power schemes by fixing prices for power generated, thereby allowing projects to go ahead.