The successful renewables auction in the UK delivers record smashing 131 clean energy projects powering equivalent of 11 million homes. With the auction, offshore wind is revitalised in the UK.

The results are a marked improvement on the previous auction round in 2023, which saw zero offshore wind projects agreed.  9 contracts have now been awarded including what will be Europe’s largest and second largest windfarm projects, Hornsea 3 and Hornsea 4 off the Yorkshire coast. The largest floating offshore wind project in the world to reach market, Green Volt, is double the size of Europe’s total installed floating offshore wind capacity

-With the great news that Green Volt has received CfD, the industrialization of floating offshore wind has officially started. UK and Vårgrønn delivers, comments Alfred Risan, leader of the working group for UK and Ireland in Norwegian Offshore Wind, and adds:

-This creates great commercial opportunities for Norwegian companies. It is the first floating wind project of scale and a stronghold for Norwegian competence and capacity. The close location to Norwegian shores makes this project highly relevant for our ports. 

Projects have been agreed at well below the upper limit on the price set for the auction.

Biggest UK auction

The 131 projects this year is the biggest auction to date – exceeding the 92 projects delivered in the last auction round.  

Vårgrønn is a joint venture between Plenitude and HitecVision. According to 4C Offshore, the FID (Final Investment Decision) for the Greenvolt project is expected in 2025, with completion and installation by 2028. The plan is to manufacture and install 35 turbines, each around 15 MW. The decision between steel and concrete for the has not yet been made.

-This award is a clear vote of confidence from the UK Government in our plans to build Europe’s biggest commercial scale floating offshore wind farm. It is fantastic news for both our project and the wider floating offshore wind sector. Green Volt will stimulate investment in new port infrastructure and aggregate the efforts of an advanced supply-chain, helping accelerate the development of more floating windfarms. We look forward to expanding our dialogue with the supply industry, says Stephen Bull, CEO of Vårgrønn.