Renewables · Field note
Great Britain’s Clean Industry Bonus in round 7: commitments before the auction, payments after the Start Date
Offshore wind entering Great Britain’s seventh contracts-for-difference round had to commit at least £100m per GW to the supply chain, £50m if floating, before it could bid. The contract pays any bonus for investing more only after the wind farm’s Start Date; the eighth round allows earlier payment.
ListingMinds · Published and updated · Sources verified
Geography: Great Britain · Procurement rounds covered: GB CfD AR7; GB CfD AR7a; GB CfD AR8, all closed
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Before an offshore wind farm could offer a price in Great Britain’s Allocation Round 7, it had to commit money to the offshore wind supply chain. Fixed-bottom or floating, a generator could enter the round only with a Clean Industry Bonus statement; where the Secretary of State could not confirm that it had met the bonus’s minimum standard, a refusal notice kept it out. The minimum was supply-chain investment of at least £100m per GW for a fixed-bottom wind farm and £50m per GW for a floating one, indexed and calculated on each contract unit, which had to meet it on its own.1, 2, 3 The bonus budget, £20.1 million per GW of capacity applying, “a total budget of over £544 million”, was for proposals that went beyond that minimum. Every offshore bidder, in other words, had to commit to the minimum without any bonus for it.1, 4
The contract then settles the bonus last: under the round’s standard terms, a reward is set only after the wind farm’s Start Date. DESNZ, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, said on that this design meant an applicant was likely to start receiving bonus payments 1–3 years after all relevant supply chain investments had been made.5 It has put the round’s final bonus allocation at about £204 million of public investment, which it said on remained subject to developers’ final procurement decisions, and expects it to leverage up to £3.4 billion of private investment in manufacturing, factories and ports.5, 6
The commitment came months before the price
Applications for the bonus ran from to ; contract applications for Allocation Rounds 7 and 7a ran from 7 to .2, 3 Each offshore wind unit then had to include a copy of its Clean Industry Bonus statement in its contract application.7 Recipients could be named as a shortlist at application but had to be specified by the contract’s Milestone Delivery Date, and the minimum had to be delivered whether or not any extra proposal won funding. So the recipients, or at least a shortlist of them, were settled before any price was offered.1
What counted was drawn narrowly. Only investment in tangible assets qualified, not skills or research and development programmes: ports, and facilities or firms that make, assemble or install the offshore wind components the framework lists. It had to go to a manufacturing facility, installation firm or port in a “UK deprived area”, as the framework defines it, or to manufacturers or installers owned or operated by firms with a Science Based Target set or committed to by the first day of the bonus application window. It did not have to relate to the round or to the generator’s own project, it could be delivered through a third party, and it had to be made after and before the unit’s expected Start Date. For a supplier, port or installer that qualified by its location, or by its owner’s or operator’s Science Based Target, that opened a route to investment from developers whose wind farms it need not supply.1
What the round cleared at
Allocation Round 7’s results for offshore wind, published on , cleared offshore wind at £91.20 per MWh, offshore wind in Scotland at £89.49 and floating offshore wind at £216.49, in 2024 prices, for 8,437.50 MW in total.8 The two fixed-bottom groups cleared separately by design, through separate 30 GW maxima in Pot 3 for “Offshore Wind Scotland” and “Offshore Wind” projects.9, 10, 11
| Results group | Clearing price, £/MWh, 2024 prices | Clearing price, £/MWh, 2012 prices | Maximum saving on the administrative strike price | Capacity, MW | Successful units |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offshore Wind (Pot 3) | 91.20 | 65.45 | 19.29% | 6,865.00 | Awel y Môr Offshore Wind Farm A; Dogger Bank South East and Dogger Bank South West, one unit each; Norfolk Vanguard East and Norfolk Vanguard West, three units each |
| Offshore Wind – Scotland (Pot 3) | 89.49 | 64.23 | 20.81% | 1,380.00 | Berwick Bank Phase B |
| Floating Offshore Wind (Pot 4) | 216.49 | 155.37 | 20.11% | 192.50 | Erebus (100.00 MW) and Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm (92.50 MW), one unit each |
Source: DESNZ’s Allocation Round 7 results, Table A (successful applicants), Table D (outcome by technology, year and clearing price) and Table E (maximum saving on the administrative strike price). DESNZ prints the capacities without a thousands separator (6865.00); they are written here in English notation.8
How a contract for difference pays, and how Great Britain runs its rounds, is explained in the renewables guide.
In round 7, both payments wait for the Start Date
Under Allocation Round 7’s standard terms, the generator must comply with its Clean Industry Bonus requirements statement, and force majeure does not relieve it of that obligation. A generator that does not obtain an implementation statement confirming that it met the minimum, on an application made by its Start Date or the end of any extension, pays the contract counterparty the part of that investment it did not make. It pays all of it if it wholly failed or did not apply in time. The sum is indexed and paid in instalments, each capped at the strike price times the unit’s metered output over the instalment period. The Start Date marks operation, not signature. It follows notice that the final operational condition precedent is met, or the counterparty’s unilateral commercial operations notice, and cannot fall before the first day of the target commissioning window. A shortfall therefore falls due only after the Start Date, and is paid in instalments that can each take up to the strike price times what the wind farm generated in the period.12 Alongside the contract, DESNZ’s non-statutory guidance sets monitoring meetings at least twice a year, with a red, amber or green rating for each commitment, and says the Secretary of State may grant up to 6 months after the Start Date for corrective action.13
The bonus waits as well. A reward for extra investment is paid in proportion to the share of that investment an implementation statement confirms was made, in instalments without interest, and not at all without an application made by the Start Date or the end of any extension. The counterparty sets the instalments within 30 business days of the later of that deadline and other dates the contract names, and must have paid the reward in full by the fourth anniversary of the later of them. If the contract terminates before its Start Date, the generator owes no minimum-standard payment and the counterparty owes no reward. The developer finances its extra investment first and receives the bonus later, and only if the project reaches its Start Date.12
Allocation Round 8: more conditions at entry, a bonus that can come before the Start Date
Allocation Round 8 kept the same rates, £100m per GW for fixed-bottom and £50m per GW for floating wind, indexed, but assessed them across the whole project rather than unit by unit, and added two conditions. One was a contribution to the Offshore Wind Growth Partnership, the delivery body of the offshore wind industrial growth plan: optional in Allocation Round 7, it was required in Allocation Round 8 at the industry-agreed £10m per GW, and could count towards the minimum. The other, a non-financial standard, was the interim Fair Work Charter for offshore wind: the generator and, where relevant, its UK-based service providers had to have signed it by the day the bonus window closed, and had to stay signed up to remain eligible for bonus payments.1, 14
For suppliers, the charter became a condition of receiving investment under the deprived-area criterion: the recipient facility or port had to have signed it. The exceptions were a business of 50 staff or fewer at the time of application that was not the subsidiary of one with 51 or more, and a new manufacturing facility not yet in commercial production when the CfD results were released, from a supplier with no other operational manufacturing facility in the UK.14
In Allocation Round 8, the bonus can be paid before the Start Date. Under the round’s standard terms, a reward becomes payable once an implementation statement confirms that the minimum standards, the charter included, were met in full and that the extra commitment was fulfilled in whole or in part. Its instalments are set within 30 business days of a notice day that may fall before the Start Date, with their timing and size at the counterparty’s discretion, and must be paid in full by that day’s fourth anniversary.14, 15 If the contract terminates before its Start Date, the counterparty pays the balance of a reward set by a statement applied for before termination; under Allocation Round 7’s terms it owes none. A shortfall in the financial minimum is paid by the generator in instalments capped at the strike price times metered output, and nothing is owed for it if the contract terminates before the Start Date.12, 15 In Allocation Round 8, the contract’s force-majeure clause still does not relieve the generator of its obligation to comply with its Clean Industry Bonus requirements statement. Outside the contract, a regulation in force since lets the Secretary of State treat the financial minimum standards as met to the extent that a failure to meet them is attributable to circumstances outside the generator’s reasonable control that it could not reasonably foresee when it applied for its bonus statement, or last asked for it to be amended. The generator must have taken all reasonable steps to avoid the failure and given evidence of those circumstances with what the regulation calls its “sustainable industry reward application”, and the round’s guidance leaves the decision entirely to the Secretary of State’s discretion.12, 15, 20, 21
DESNZ’s final budget notice of set the round’s bonus budget at £515m in total, a single sum where the seventh round’s was set per GW of capacity applying, with a portion ring-fenced for floating offshore wind.1, 4, 16 As of , the round’s bonus applications, from 13 to , and its contract applications, from 20 July to , have closed, and DESNZ’s page for the round lists no results.17, 18, 19
Sources (21)
- 1
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ): Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 7, Clean Industry Bonus Allocation Framework, 2024, revised · Tier 1 · official · Verified
Where in the document
Pages are the PDF page numbers, which match the printed numbers. Paragraphs 2.4 and 2.10 (p. 3); paragraph 3.2 (p. 4); paragraphs 3.9, 3.12, 4.1 and 4.3 (p. 5); paragraph 5.4 (p. 6); paragraphs 5.5 and 5.6 (p. 7); paragraphs 5.11 to 5.15 (p. 8); paragraphs 5.16 and 5.17 and paragraph 6.1(c) (p. 9); part 12 of the table under paragraph 6.1 (p. 11); paragraphs 7.1, 7.2 and 7.4 (p. 14); paragraphs 7.7 to 7.9 and 7.11 (p. 15); paragraphs 10.1 and 10.2 (pp. 17–18); paragraphs 11.1 and 11.2 (p. 18); paragraph 12.4(b) (p. 20); paragraph 18.2 (p. 28); paragraph 20.4 (p. 31). This is the framework as revised with effect from , the version in force when the bonus application window opened. Amendments checked: Clean Industry Bonus Framework Notice of (the first version; window to close provisionally on ); Correction of (criterion 2 scoring formula), listed on the framework page, not retrieved and superseded; Clean Industry Bonus Framework Notice of (window of 22 working days; investments need not relate to the round or the project, paragraph 5.12; information table clarified; criterion 2 cost in £m; tiebreakers changed; it prints its closing date as “14 Mach 2024”); Clean Industry Bonus Framework Revision Notice of (window of 43 working days, closing ; minimum standard calculated per MW, not per MW/h, paragraph 7.4; shortlist rules at paragraph 6.1(c); normalised scoring formulae). Also on the framework page, none changing a cited paragraph: Clean Industry Bonus application form; Minimum standards shortlist application template; Clean Industry Bonus dispute resolution guidance; Guidance for fixed bottom and floating offshore wind projects on monitoring the implementation of Clean Industry Bonus, cited separately (S-182).
- 2
DESNZ: Clean Industry Bonus Framework Revision Notice, Allocation Round 7, · Tier 1 · official · Verified
Where in the document
Paragraph 3 (p. 1): the bonus application opening date, , and closing date, . Paragraph 5 (pp. 1–2) lists the framework changes, recorded under the framework’s own entry. It replaces the notice of .
- 3
DESNZ: Application Window Notice, Allocation Rounds 7 and 7a, · Tier 1 · official · Verified
Where in the document
P. 1: the application opening date for AR7 and AR7a, , and the closing date, . Schedule 1, regulation 4A (p. 3), read; not cited.
- 4
DESNZ: Final Budget Notice for the Clean Industry Bonus, Allocation Round 7, · Tier 1 · official · Verified
Where in the document
P. 1, under the heading “Clean Industry Bonus Budget allocation”: £20.1 million per GW of capacity applying for a Clean Industry Bonus, “a total budget of over £544 million”; under “Use of Floating Offshore Wind Sub-budget”: the sub-budget’s value is not disclosed. The schedule that reproduces regulation 13A is headed “Schedule to the Draft Budget Notice”, while the notice is titled the final budget notice. The indicative and draft budget notices were not retrieved.
- 5
DESNZ: Contracts for Difference, contract amendments to implement Clean Industry Bonus reforms, government response, · Tier 1 · official · Verified
Where in the document
Context, second paragraph (p. 4): the first round of the bonus, £204 million of public investment “expected to leverage up to £3.4 billion of private investment”. Section 6, first paragraph (p. 9): “the AR7 payment system meant that an applicant was likely to start receiving CIB payments 1- 3 years after all relevant supply chain investments have been made”. The document shows only the year; the date is the publication page’s (“Published the government response to the consultation”, ). The government response of on the regulatory reforms (question 26) gives the same 1–3 years for “the existing payment system”; read, not cited.
- 6
DESNZ: Record renewables auction supports 7,000 jobs and £3bn investment, press release, · Tier 1 · official · Verified
Where in the document
Notes to editors, last paragraph: “The final CIB allocation of c.£204 million remains subject to final procurement decisions by developers.” The release’s jobs figures are industry estimates (notes to editors) and are not cited; its “has leveraged £3.4 billion” is cited instead in the later wording of S-430 (“expected to leverage up to”).
- 7
DESNZ: Contracts for Difference Allocation Rounds 7 and 7a, Contract Allocation Framework, Schedule 5, application checks to be carried out by the Delivery Body · Tier 1 · official · Verified
Where in the document
P. 9, the row for regulation 26, “Statements in relation to supply chains”: MW column, projects of 300 MW or above; technology column, all technologies except offshore and floating offshore wind; “This requirement does not apply to an Offshore Wind CFD Unit”, with footnotes 3 and 4 (neither fixed-bottom nor floating). P. 9, continued on p. 10, the row for regulation 27B, “Statements in relation to sustainable industry rewards (SIRs) also known as Clean Industry Bonus (CIB)”: a copy of the statement issued under regulation 28C(a); “This requirement only applies to an Offshore Wind CFD Unit”, with footnotes 5 and 6 (both fixed-bottom and floating). The document shows no date; it is published with the framework on the framework page, which lists no later version.
- 8
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ): Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 7 results, accessible webpage · Tier 1 · official · Verified
Where in the document
Table A (successful Pot 3 and Pot 4 applicants: project, size and strike prices); Table D (breakdown of the outcome by technology, year and clearing price; 2012 and 2024 prices); Table E (maximum saving on the administrative strike price). Checked against the PDF edition of the same publication, listed on the same results page. The page was updated on only to add Allocation Round 7a.
- 9
DESNZ: Contracts for Difference Allocation Rounds 7 and 7a, Contract Allocation Framework · Tier 1 · official · Verified
Where in the document
Rule 4.1(i) and (j) (p. 8): the transmission tariff zones and distribution licence areas that define Offshore Wind and Offshore Wind Scotland applications.
- 10
DESNZ: Pot and Price Notice, Allocation Rounds 7 and 7a, · Tier 1 · official · Verified
Where in the document
P. 1, Table 1: Allocation Round 7 covers offshore wind (Pot 3) and floating offshore wind (Pot 4), and Allocation Round 7a all other eligible technologies. P. 2, under the heading “Use of Maxima in Pot 3”: maxima applied to separate the clearing prices of Offshore Wind Scotland and Offshore Wind projects, with the tariff zones and licence areas that define each group.
- 11
DESNZ: Contract Budget Notice for Allocation Round 7, · Tier 1 · official · Verified
Where in the document
P. 2, under the heading “Use of Maxima”: two separate maxima, each totalling 30GW, for Offshore Wind Scotland and Offshore Wind projects in Pot 3; their level is “purely technical”, set so that the auction separates the two groups’ clearing prices while still awarding contracts in merit order. Amendment checked: Contract Budget Revision Notice of , which raises the Pot 3 budget and leaves the maxima unchanged.
- 12
DESNZ: Allocation Round 7, contract for difference standard terms and conditions · Tier 1 · official · Verified
Where in the document
Version 7, dated on its cover. Schedule 2 (Clean Industry Bonus): paragraph 1.1, definitions “Investment Extension Period” and “Investment Final Date” (p. 276, printed 268); paragraphs 1.2(A), 2 and 3 (p. 277, printed 269); paragraphs 5.1 to 5.5 (pp. 279–280, printed 271–272); paragraph 5.7(A) (p. 281, printed 273); paragraphs 6.2 to 6.6 (pp. 282–283, printed 274–275); paragraph 6.7(B)(i)(a) and (C)(i), the reward instalments set within thirty Business Days of the later of the Investment Final Date and other dates, and paid by the fourth anniversary (pp. 283–284, printed 275–276); paragraph 6.9(A) (p. 284, printed 276); paragraph 10 (p. 288, printed 280). Conditions 3.21 and 3.21A, the Start Date Notice and the Start Date (pp. 84–85, printed 76–77). Condition 69.2(B) (p. 244, printed 236). Later version checked: the standard terms page says all contract documents were amended on (contract term for wind and solar, base year, the planning milestone for unconsented projects, phased projects); none of the main amendments it lists concerns Schedule 2 or condition 69, and the file cited is the one the page links now.
- 13
DESNZ: Guidance for fixed bottom and floating offshore wind projects on monitoring the implementation of Clean Industry Bonus (HTML edition) · Tier 1 · official · Verified
Where in the document
Paragraph 1.8: non-statutory guidance; the regulations, the framework and the contract prevail. Paragraph 6.1: monitoring meetings at least twice a year, until an implementation statement is issued or refused. Paragraph 7.2: the red, amber and green ratings. Paragraph 8.17: an extension of up to 6 months after the Start Date, at the Secretary of State’s discretion, on evidence of a credible plan. The page shows no date. Paragraphs 3.3 and 9.4 describe a shortfall as a performance adjustment to CfD payments; the page follows the standard terms, which set it as a payment by the generator. The PDF edition was not read.
- 14
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ): Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 8, Clean Industry Bonus Allocation Framework, 2026 · Tier 1 · official · Verified
Where in the document
Pages are the PDF page numbers, which match the printed numbers. Paragraph 2.3 (p. 3): one application per project, a generating station and all its units entering the round. Paragraphs 2.7, 2.15 and 2.16 (p. 4): the minimum standards include the contribution to the IGP Delivery Body and the Fair Work Charter (non-financial); the IGP Delivery Body is the Offshore Wind Growth Partnership. Paragraph 3.3 (p. 5). Paragraphs 4.4 and 4.5 (p. 7): no unit details at application. Paragraph 6.1 (p. 11): at least £100m per GW fixed-bottom and £50m per GW floating, indexed; the IGP contribution, £10m per GW for Allocation Round 8, may count towards them at the applicant’s discretion; the Fair Work Charter. Paragraph 6.6 (p. 12): successful units named within 5 working days of a CfD notification. Paragraphs 6.15 and 6.16 (p. 13): signed by the close of the window; must remain signed to stay eligible for bonus payments. Paragraph 7.8 (p. 14). Paragraph 11.1.1 (p. 21) and paragraph 11.3 (p. 22): criterion 1 conditions and the two exceptions. The document shows no date: the framework page says the final versions replaced the drafts on , the Clean Industry Bonus Framework Notice (S-427) calls it the framework “dated 23 April”, and the PDF’s properties give the same day as the page. Later page changes ( and ) add only the Fair Work Charter signatories list.
- 15
DESNZ: Allocation Round 8, contract for difference standard terms and conditions, version 8, · Tier 1 · official · Verified
Where in the document
Version 8, dated on its cover (file name AR8-CfD-STCs-May-2026.pdf, the file the standard terms page links since its update of ). PDF pages, then printed pages (PDF minus eight). Schedule 2 (Clean Industry Bonus): paragraph 1.1, definitions “Investment Final Date” and “Reward Amount Notice Day” (p. 295, printed 287); paragraph 5.1 (p. 297, printed 289); paragraph 5.5(B), the cap Max = SP x MO (p. 298, printed 290); paragraph 5.7(A) (p. 299, printed 291); paragraphs 6.2 and 6.5 (p. 301, printed 293); paragraph 6.7, the Reward Amount Notice Day “may be before the Start Date” and full payment by its 4th anniversary (p. 302, printed 294); paragraph 6.9, termination “before or after the Start Date” (p. 303, printed 295).
- 16
DESNZ: Final Budget Notice for the Clean Industry Bonus, Allocation Round 8, · Tier 1 · official · Verified
Where in the document
P. 1, under “Clean Industry Bonus Budget allocation”: “a total budget of £515m”; under “Use of Floating Offshore Wind Sub budget”: a portion ring-fenced for floating offshore wind proposals, its value not given. Published on the statutory notices page on . Amendment checked: the Initial Clean Industry Bonus Budget Notice of gave £200 million, “may be revised with the final budget notice”; superseded, not cited.
- 17
DESNZ: Clean Industry Bonus Framework Notice, Allocation Round 8, · Tier 1 · official · Verified
Where in the document
Paragraph 2 (p. 1): the Clean Industry Bonus application opening date, , and closing date, . Paragraph 1: the framework “dated 23 April” applies to Allocation Round 8, established by the Allocation Round Notice of the same date.
- 18
DESNZ: Application Window Notice, Allocation Round 8, · Tier 1 · official · Verified
Where in the document
P. 1: the Application Opening Date for AR8, , and the Application Closing Date, ; the round established on . Tables 1 and 2 (pp. 1–2), delivery and valuation years, read; not cited.
- 19
DESNZ: Contracts for Difference (CfD), Allocation Round 8, collection page · Tier 1 · official · Verified
Where in the document
The page’s list of documents (under the heading Contracts for Difference (CfD) Allocation Round 8: key documents) and its change history (under the heading Updates to this page: first published , last change ), opened on : framework, standard terms, statutory notices, exemptions notice and consultations; no results document.
- 20
The Contracts for Difference (Sustainable Industry Rewards and Contract Budget Notice Amendments) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/411), legislation.gov.uk · Tier 1 · official · Verified
Where in the document
The instrument as made. Heading: made on , coming into force on ; regulation 1(1): in force on the day after the day on which it is made. Regulation 22 inserts regulation 12G (“Effect of unforeseeable circumstances”) into the Electricity Market Reform (General) Regulations 2014: paragraph (1), where the applicant has failed to meet the financial minimum standards and has, with its sustainable industry reward application, provided evidence of unforeseeable circumstances; paragraph (2), the Secretary of State “may to that extent treat the financial minimum standards as met”; paragraph (3), circumstances not reasonably foreseeable when the applicant applied for its statement or most recently applied for it to be amended, and outside its reasonable control; paragraph (4), all reasonable steps taken. Regulation 13 substitutes regulation 28A(1) of the Allocation Regulations: an eligible generator may make a sustainable industry reward application to the Secretary of State if required or permitted by a sustainable industry reward allocation framework. Regulation 20 adds to regulation 12E(1)(b) of the EMR (General) Regulations that an implementation application may “state the generator party applicant’s intention to rely on regulation 12G”. Regulation 21 read; not cited. The term “sustainable industry reward application” in regulation 12G(1)(b) is not defined in the EMR (General) Regulations, whose regulation 2(1) defines only the “sustainable industry reward implementation application”. No provision limits regulation 12G to a particular allocation round.
- 21
DESNZ: Guidance for fixed bottom and floating offshore wind projects on monitoring the implementation of Clean Industry Bonus, Allocation Round 8 (PDF edition) · Tier 1 · official · Verified
Where in the document
Pages are the PDF page numbers, which match the printed numbers. Paragraphs 7.1 to 7.9 (pp. 6–7): unforeseeable events outside the applicant’s reasonable control; alternative minimum standard investments first (7.2, 7.3); a claim with evidence (7.4); an implementation statement that “would deem that the financial minimum standard had been met” (7.6); the decision “remains entirely at the Secretary of State’s discretion” (7.8); otherwise refusal and performance related adjustments (7.9). The document shows no date; it is the final version linked from the round 8 framework page since . The HTML edition on the same page was not read.
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How to cite
ListingMinds, “Great Britain’s Clean Industry Bonus in round 7: commitments before the auction, payments after the Start Date”, . https://www.listingminds.com/energy/field-notes/clean-industry-bonus-cfd-allocation-round-7