New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
Onshore wind to return to England in AR7a round
18/2/2026
News
In the second part of the AR7 renewables auction, new onshore wind has been agreed at a price of £72.24/MWh and new solar at £65.23/MWh.
Both figures are less than half the £147/MWh cost of building and operating new gas power stations, according to the UK government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). New nuclear capacity is reportedly £124/MWh.
Onshore wind in England had been effectively banned for the last decade by the previous government, but projects included in the round were the 52 MW Hyndburn II wind farm in Lancashire and the 20 MW Imerys wind farm in Cornwall.
Another significant project included is the 480 MW West Burton solar farm, which is located across the border of Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire.
For context, in the first part of AR7 announced in January, the strike price of fixed offshore wind was £91.20/MWh and floating offshore wind was £216.49/MWh.
AR7 as a whole is the largest CfD round ever in awarded capacity – 14.7 GW, and in the number of projects awarded (201), including 157 solar (amounting to 4.9 GW), 28 onshore wind (1.3 GW), 12 offshore wind (8.4 GW) and four tidal (21 MW).
Lucy Dolton, Renewable Generation Lead at Cornwall Insight, commented: ‘The challenge now is delivery. 2.5 GW of the winners have a delivery year of 2027/2028, and 3.7 GW have a delivery year of 2028/2029, which brings them very close to the government’s 2030 clean power target. Historically, renewable projects in the UK have faced delays often due to grid connection backlogs and planning holdups. With AR7 and some of AR8 representing the only realistic pipeline for pre-2030 capacity, keeping to schedule will be essential.’
In other news, the UK government has announced plans to bankroll up to £1bn in grants, loans, advice and expert help for community energy projects under what it calls The Local Power Plan.
There are four types of support on offer. First is direct project funding and finance. Details, including Great British Energy’s investment allocation, will be published in the GBE Capital Toolkit in autumn 2026.
Second is advice and support. This is promised to include a network of partners, specialist advisory services, and templates and guidance documents.
Third is developing business models for community energy, including for example power purchase agreements, private wire, sell to market and local energy supply models.
Fourth is policy and regulatory changes. This will include proposals to come on whether ownership of clean energy projects should be mandatory, improvements to market access, expediting grid connections and facilitating community battery schemes.
