UK offshore wind auction sets a European record, 8.4 gigawatts secured at 40% below the cost of new gas

What the UK offshore wind auction record actually secured

A Contracts for Difference auction is the mechanism the government uses to pay for new clean power. Developers bid to build wind, solar or tidal projects, and the winners sign a contract that fixes the price, called the strike price, they get paid for every unit of electricity they generate over 15 years. The UK offshore wind auction record for 2026 was set on 14 January, when the seventh such auction, called Allocation Round 7, secured 8,437.50 megawatts, reported as 8.4 gigawatts, of offshore wind capacity. That total is made up of 8,245 megawatts from 12 fixed foundation projects, built on the seabed, and 192.50 megawatts from 2 floating projects, anchored in deeper water, across 14 projects overall. The government and the independent analysis site Carbon Brief both call it the biggest offshore wind auction Europe has ever held.

With these results, Britain is taking back control of our energy sovereignty.

Ed Miliband, Energy Secretary. Source 2.

Why this result reverses 2 years of failed offshore wind bidding

Reaching 8.4 gigawatts is a sharp turnaround. The fifth allocation round in 2023 secured zero offshore wind projects, because the price on offer was too low to attract any bids at all. The sixth round in 2024 secured 5.3 gigawatts, including the 2.4 gigawatt Hornsea 4 project, which developers later cancelled in May 2025. Allocation Round 7 secured 3 gigawatts more than the sixth round.

What the auction pays, and why it costs less than gas

The average clearing price for fixed foundation offshore wind was 90.91 pounds per megawatt hour, 40% below the 147 pounds per megawatt hour the government states a new gas fired power station would cost to build and run. Reading the results document the government itself published, not just its press release, shows that average blends 2 separate regional prices, 91.20 pounds per megawatt hour in England and Wales and 89.49 pounds per megawatt hour in Scotland, weighted by how much capacity each region won. Floating offshore wind, a newer technology anchored to the seabed rather than fixed to it, cleared at a higher 216.49 pounds per megawatt hour.

What the result means for jobs, investment and the rest of the round

The government states the January result unlocks 22 billion pounds of private investment in building the projects and will power more than 12 million homes once complete. It also states the auction supports 7,000 jobs.

We promised to take back control of our energy with clean, homegrown power and today we're delivering in a way that brings good industrial jobs.

Keir Starmer, Prime Minister. Source 3.

A month later, on 10 February 2026, the government announced results for the remaining pots in the same auction round, adding 4.9 gigawatts of solar across 157 projects, 1.3 gigawatts of onshore wind across 28 projects and 20.9 megawatts of tidal stream power across 4 projects. That brought the combined Allocation Round 7 total to 14.7 gigawatts across 201 projects. Only 14 of those 201 projects are offshore wind, the rest are solar, onshore wind and tidal.

How far the auction moves Britain toward its 2030 offshore wind target

Carbon Brief states the country already has 17 gigawatts of offshore wind installed, plus another 10 gigawatts contracted in earlier auctions before this one. Counting the 8.4 gigawatts from this auction still leaves about 7 gigawatts needed to reach the low end of the 43 to 50 gigawatt target the government has set for 2030, the gap Carbon Brief itself states remains.