Josh Cornes, analyst at Solar Media Market Research, delves into the results from AR7 of the government’s Contracts for Difference scheme, going over both the projects and developers awarded.
February 11, 2026
In this article, Josh Cornes, analyst at Solar Media Market Research, delves into the results from AR7 of the government's Contracts for Difference scheme, announced yesterday, going over both the projects and developers awarded.
The UK government's Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme has been a driving force for UK solar, with 60% of the capacity built in the last three years having received a CfD. Over 70% of Allocation Round 4 (AR4) is now either under construction or operational and over half of AR5 is at the same stage. AR7 has become the most successful round seen, with two awarded projects already completed and three more already under construction.
In AR7, 76 different developers received a CfD, up over 60% on the 47 that were involved in AR6.
One glaring thing to point out is the decrease in average capacity per project this year. Where previously project size increased every auction, with AR6 having an average of close to 47MWp, AR7 saw an average size of just 43.5MWp.
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This is largely down to the lack of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) awarded. Seven NSIP projects were eligible this round, but only West Burton Solar Farm received a CfD. Granted, it was the largest solar project to receive a CfD to date, with the entire 480MW project being awarded a contract across three sites (hence only 155 projects received a contract, with 157 contracts issued).
Prior to this, three NSIPs had received a contract, Longfield and Little Crow Solar Farms in AR6 and Cleve Hill Solar Farm back in AR4, which is now fully operational.
The capacity in the 50-100MWp, higher-end local planning authority (LPA) sized projects increased significantly, rising from 2.3MWp to 3.6MWp; however, there were 31 projects 5-20MWp in size, triple that of AR6, another significant reason for the sharp decrease in average project size. Source: Solar Media Market Research.
With the strike price notably low at just £65.23/MWh, developers of large-scale projects clearly haven’t seen any viability in delivering them, given the extra costs required at that scale. Another reason may be down to grid, with multiple NSIPs being pushed back from original planned connection dates in 2027/2028 to 2029/2030.
Previously, only one project has been known to turn down a CfD after originally winning the contract, and with increasing CapEx, it’s something to keep an eye on for this round. Module prices saw a sharp rise in 2026, with the price of silver and copper increasing; it’s definitely food for thought for developers over the next 12 months.
As always, grid is going to be a stumbling block. Whilst most of the projects that won contracts do have Gate 2 Phase 1 (Pre-2031 grid connection dates), some have Phase 2 offers (2031-2035). Seeing as the projects are either 2027/2028 or 2028/2029 delivery dates for this CfD round, the longstop date at latest would still be in Phase 1 (unless developers can get an extension agreed with the Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC)).
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Advancement is therefore crucial to these developers, or they risk having their contract terminated. The issue of advancement and acceleration was something not seen in the first round of notifications from NESO, much to numerous developers’ frustrations.
As previously mentioned, 76 developers won a contract in this round. Eight received five or more, and one received nine, level with the nine Low Carbon won in AR5.
Elgin Energy (eight sites) and Innova Renewables (nine sites) were the biggest winners in terms of capacity (excluding Island Green Power with 480MW for West Burton) and project count. Twenty developers won over 100MWp.
Pathfinder Clean Energy (PACE) was the other company with eight projects; however, theirs were generally smaller, averaging ~30MWp.
Looking deeper into what people are planning to do with the awarded projects, 2025 was the busiest year for pipeline M&A activity in the market and there were clear shifts in tactics from developers. Elgin moved to an independent power producer (IPP) business model, where previously they were a well-known greenfield developer. Other developers went the other way, for example with Voltalia selling Rainsbrook Solar Farm to Liberty Global.
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According to Solar Media Market Research’s database, there are 50 projects in this round totalling 1.8GWp that companies may be looking to offload once at the Ready to Build (RTB) stage, which makes sense as a significant number of projects with CfDs have changed hands pre-build in the past.
A perfect example is the TotalEnergies portfolio, which it purchased from Low Carbon: Five of the eight projects they bought had CfDs and the remaining three won contracts in this round. Enviromena have also previously been attracted to CfDs, purchasing three AR6 projects in 2025 and winning another two contracts in AR7.
CfDs have been the backbone of success for solar in the UK over the last three years. AR7 can be seen as a success on the face of it, with the highest number of projects and the highest total capacity given out.
When digging deeper, only one NSIP winning a contract is cause for concern as it highlights the potentially unattractive strike price for developers. There are several other factors at play, with rising CapEx, grid constraints and procurement timelines, this round will be an interesting one to keep an eye on.
If you would like to access the data on all 155 projects, including project name, true developer, comprehensive grid information and audit trail please reach out to [email protected].
Read more about:
Josh Cornes
Market analyst, Solar Media, Solar Media Market Research
Josh Cornes joined Solar Media in May 2022. He's a Market Research Analyst who specialises in the UK Solar and Wind sectors, tracking all projects within development to create informative reports and write data driven articles on UK trends and market sizing.
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