Solar and onshore wind complete record-breaking UK allocation round

On 10 February 2026, the UK government announced the results of the latest Contracts for Difference (CfD) round for solar, onshore wind and tidal energy projects, allocation round 7a (AR7a). Following the successful offshore wind auction announced in January (AR7), another 4.9 GW of solar, 1.3 GW of onshore wind and 21 MW of tidal energy were awarded CfD. For solar, this marks a substantial increase of 23 % over the installed capacity of 21 GW at the end of 2025, while the additional onshore wind capacity from AR7a represents a more moderate rise of 8 % compared to 16 GW by the end of 2025. Across all technologies, a total of 14.7 GW of renewable energy capacity received CfD in AR7 and AR7a, making this seventh allocation round the largest to date in the UK.