The Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme is the Government\u2019s main mechanism for supporting new low-carbon electricity generation projects in Great Britain. The fourth allocation round of the CfD scheme (AR4) opened on 13 December 2021 and aims to secure more low-carbon electricity capacity than the previous three rounds combined. AR4 is open to an expanded number of renewable technologies, including offshore wind, onshore wind, solar, tidal stream and floating offshore wind. In February, the Government also announced that the next CfD allocation round will be brought forward to March 2023, and future rounds will run annually, rather than every two years, thereafter. This will support renewable electricity producers and further drive deployment of renewable power.<\/p>
In 2019 BEIS launched the Storage at Scale competition, which funded demonstration facilities for two innovative energy storage facilities. In 2021, BEIS launched a further programme, The Longer Duration Energy Storage competition. In February 2022, BEIS announced funding for 24 projects under this competition to perform engineering design or feasibility studies of their technologies. The Government is reviewing the responses to the Call for Evidence on large-scale, long-duration electricity storage, alongside analysis the Department commissioned on the role of this type of storage in the electricity system. The Government will publish a response in due course.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1526", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Greg Hands"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Chelsea and Fulham"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Greg Hands"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2022-03-14", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2022-03-14T15:46:05.04Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "201"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2022-03-09", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Renewable Energy: Finance"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of further increasing investment in (a) onshore wind, (b) solar, (c) tidal and (d) other renewable energy sources such in order to further diversify energy generation in the UK; what steps he is taking to support the development of energy storage facilities; and what his planned timetable is for publishing the findings of the call for evidence on large scale, long duration energy storage.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4859", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Virginia Crosbie"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Ynys Môn"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Virginia Crosbie"} ], "uin" : "137456"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1422003", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1422003/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
On 9 February 2022, the Secretary of State announced that Contracts for Difference allocation rounds will be held on an annual basis from March 2023, when the next round (AR5) will open to applications.[1]<\/sup><\/sup><\/p> <\/p> <\/p> [1] https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2022-02-09/hcws600<\/a><\/p> <\/p>"}
, "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1526", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Greg Hands"}
}
, "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Chelsea and Fulham"}
, "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Greg Hands"}
, "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2022-02-21", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2022-02-21T16:40:24.377Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
]}
, "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "201"}
, "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"}
, "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"}
, "date" : {"_value" : "2022-02-10", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Renewable Energy: Finance"}
, "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"}
, "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"}
}
], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has plans to implement the Contracts for Difference auction and allocation on an annual basis.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4390", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Ian Blackford"}
}
, "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Ross, Skye and Lochaber"}
, "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Ian Blackford"}
], "uin" : "122698"}
, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1418191", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1418191/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " The Low Carbon Contracts Company publishes information on payments to projects supported by the Contracts for Difference scheme on their Data Portal[1].<\/p>