Multi-million investment for floating wind at Kishorn Port
Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) will invest over £24m at Kishorn Port in the West Highlands to expand its dry dock enabling the manufacture of floating offshore wind substructures.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has published the indicative timeline for the eagerly awaited AR7 (Allocation Round 7) for the UK’s Contract for Difference mechanism.
The offshore wind industry is hoping to see the largest capacity allocation, so far, with over 8GW of offshore wind expected in this round. Applications will be submitted in August and the announcement of successful bidders will follow in December 2025 at the earliest or January 2026 at the latest.
The opportunity to maximise offshore wind capacity in this round will be crucial if the Clean Power 2030 target of 43-50GW of operational offshore wind projects is to be met.
AR7 sees a number of innovations applied to this round including the Clean Industry Bonus (CIB) incentive which saw its budget more than doubled from £200m to £544m by Energy Secretary, Ed Miliband due to industry demand. The CIB has been introduced to provide financial rewards for offshore wind developers, on the condition that they prioritise investment in regions that need it most or in cleaner supply chains, including ex-industrial areas, ports and coastal towns.
Also, for the first time, a separate timeline has been published for offshore wind and another one for all other technologies. This is to allow the offshore wind results to be confirmed soon as possible given the tight timeline to the 2030 deadline to help deliver the Clean Power 2030 ambition.
Link to the full AR7 timeline (from the Contracts for Difference mini site)
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