Offshore wind farm subsidy costs drop to record lows in latest contract round

The cost of subsidies for new offshore wind farms has tumbled to record lows in the latest round of contracts being awarded for clean energy projects.

Prices for new offshore wind farms in the latest auction for the contracts - which guarantee a set price for power from schemes such as offshore wind farms - have fallen to £74.75 per megawatt hour for projects delivered in 2021/22 and £57.50 for projects in 2022/23.

Subsidies have fallen 50% since the last auction in 2015, and are down even further on the £150/MWh given to the first wind farms awarded contracts for subsidies.

The Government said the projects which had successfully bid for contracts were set to generate more than three gigawatts of electricity, enough to power 3.6 million homes.