The price ceilings for the next UK contracts for difference (CfD) auction have been revealed, with solar set at GBP 75 ($100) per MWh – unchanged from the administrative strike price chosen by the government for the previous allocation round.
According to pv-magazine, CfD allocation rounds are the main lever used by the UK government to procure utility-scale renewables capacity, by offering state-backed contracts that provide long-term revenue at a fixed price.
Solar remains the most affordable renewables technology within the UK CfD process, with its GBP 75/MWh administrative strike price below onshore wind at GBP 92/MWh, offshore wind at GBP 113/MWh and floating offshore wind at GBP 271/MWh.
Competition between these technologies could heat up in the eighth CfD allocation round (AR8) as the UK government has opted to separate established technologies in the auction process, potentially giving the government more flexibility in its procurement strategy and greater control over the technology mix.
The breadth of solar and onshore wind projects that could secure a CfD has also been expanded through the addition of an extra delivery year for the AR8 auction. While the seventh UK CfD auction (AR7) only set two delivery years for solar and onshore wind – 2027/28 and 2027/28 – AR8 will include 2028/29, 2029/30, and 2030/31 as delivery years for solar and onshore wind. Aurora Energy Research estimates this change could add around 30% more eligible capacity.
Other changes introduced for AR8 include a shift in how no-bid applications are handled. Under AR7 rules, developers who didn’t submit a sealed bid for their project would have a bid assigned at the administrative strike price – meaning they would stay in the auction. Under AR8 rule 16.3, applications without a sealed bid will be withdrawn from the auction, removing a safety net for applicants who miss the bidding deadline.
Projects must also hold a ‘Gate 2’ grid connection offer in line with the recent reform of Great Britain’s connections queue implemented by the National Energy System Operator (NESO).
Anonymized bid information has also significantly expanded, and solar has been added to the single-bid, no-flexible-bid regime that was previously only faced by offshore wind. This could substantially impact bidding strategy by removing the ability to hedge with multiple flexible bids.
Load factors remain the same, however, and are set at 11.1% for solar, 33.4% for onshore wind and 43.6% for offshore wind. Sometimes referred to as a capacity factor, this percentage shows the maximum possible output expected from a generating technology.
AR8 will need to procure significant solar capacity to ensure the government hits clean generation targets by 2030. The UK government wants at least 45 GW of deployed solar capacity by 2030, up from 22.6 GW recorded in provisional deployment data to the end of May 2025. In February 2026, the government announced a record 4.9 GW of solar capacity had been secured via its AR7 auction.
Bidding for the eight CfD allocation round (AR8) opens on July 20. 2026 and closes on Aug. 7, 2026. The standard contract length on offer will be 20 years.
