Factoring in a “healthy” solar project pipeline and the £310 million budget allocated, Solar Energy UK predicts a 9-16% discount on the £75 administrative strike price of last year.
February 6, 2026
The trade body for the UK’s solar industry, Solar Energy UK (SEUK), says it anticipates strike prices for solar power in the upcoming Contracts for Difference (CfD) allocation round to be £63-68 per megawatt-hour.
Allocation round 7a (AR7a) results are due to be published by the government soon. According to indicative timelines issued by the Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC), the administrator of the CfD scheme, results are due by 9 February, though timings have somewhat slipped.
Solar Energy UK said the results are “keenly awaited”. In its view, of several changes announced to the way that AR7 runs compared to previous years, the “most critical” change is a move to 20-year contracts, up from 15.
Factoring in a “healthy” solar project pipeline and the £310 million budget allocated (this is for all technologies that are not offshore wind), SEUK predicts a 9-16% discount on the £72.92 administrative strike price of last year, which is the cap on bids imposed by the government.
UK grid reform reshapes solar and storage financing, experts say
Using 2024-benchmarked prices, the solar strike price was £64.09/MWh in AR4, £65.49/MWh in AR5, and then, of course, £72.92/MWh in AR6, which awarded contracts to 3.3GW of solar PV.
SEUK estimates that 6GW of capacity is eligible to bid for a CfD, but as some developers opt for alternative financial arrangements like power purchase agreements (PPAs), AR7a will deliver between 3.5-4.5GW solar plants between 2028 and 2031.
It said that this broadly aligns with what is needed to meet the overarching solar target set in the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan.
Figures from Solar Media Market Research, laid out in a recent Solar Power Portal article by analyst Josh Cornes, show that in 2025 3.5GWp ground-mount solar PV was added, bringing the UK’s total operational capacity past 23GWp.
In terms of the number of projects that will win, there are two possible outcomes: looking at historical rounds, the average capacity of awarded sites was 35MW, suggesting 100-130 projects would receive CfDs this year.
However, the increasing scale of solar PV plants in the UK, as higher numbers enter the planning system as Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) with capacities over 50MW, means that a lower number of individual projects could win.
The CfD scheme operates to reduce the risk of volatile energy prices being reflected in consumer bills. When wholesale electricity prices are below the agreed strike price, operators receive top-up payments that are renumerated via bills. When wholesale prices exceed the strike price, operators pay the difference back, reducing the ‘policy costs’ applied to bills.
Government, Green Finance Institute launch the Green Home Finance Strategic Partnership
In 2025, the wholesale cost averaged £80.66. That suggests that the lower strike price will save consumers ‘millions’, in SEUK’s estimation.
“We have stressed for years that solar farms are the cheapest source of power. The forthcoming auction results should directly lower consumer bills, delivering more clean, green, secure and homegrown energy, free from geopolitical turbulence,” said Chris Hewett, chief executive of SEUK.
Unlike in previous years, the CfD auction for offshore wind ran separately from the one for onshore technologies.
Offshore wind, for which results were released on 14 January, awarded 8.4 GW, making it the biggest offshore wind auction in Europe to date. Strong competition led to competitive average prices of £91.20/MWh in England and Wales and £89.49/MWh in Scotland.
Read more about:
Molly Green
Senior Reporter, Informa
Molly joined the team in 2024 and has led coverage on the UK sites. Now shifting to a more global view, Molly is interested in how legislation shapes market dynamics, covering the intersection of policy design, investment patterns, and energy transition pathways.
Featured Event
Returning in 2026 for its 13th edition, Solar Finance & Investment Europe Summit will bring together the brightest minds representing funds, banks, developers, utilities, government and industry across Europe and the UK.
The event is designed to enable leaders at the forefront of solar investment and deployment in Europe to scale, learn and land themselves industry-defining partnerships.
Copyright © 2026 All rights reserved. Informa Markets, a trading division of Informa PLC.
