SSE's Cloiche Wind Farm secures CfD allocation

(Sharecast News) - SSE announced on Tuesday that its Cloiche Wind Farm has successfully secured a contract in the UK's sixth Contracts for Difference (CfD) allocation round. The FTSE 100 company said the project, set to deliver 130.5MW of low-carbon power, would benefit from a guaranteed strike price of £50.90 per megawatt-hour (MWh), adjusted annually for inflation since 2012.

It said the contract, covering 100% of the project's capacity, would ensure a stable income for the renewable energy generated by Cloiche over a 15-year period starting from the 2027-2028 delivery year.

The Cloiche Wind Farm, which received planning consent in November last year, was currently in the late stages of development, with a final investment decision anticipated in 2025.

SSE said the secured CfD contract provided a crucial route-to-market, underpinning the financial viability of the project and supporting its operational life.

"We are delighted Cloiche has been successful in AR6," said SSE Renewables managing director Stephen Wheeler.

"Securing a route to market will enable us to progress the project which is critical to delivering new homegrown green energy for the UK.

"But there is much more to do if the UK is to meet its ambitious clean power target by 2030, which requires a quadrupling of offshore wind capacity."

Stephen Wheeler said SSE Renewables was "waiting for consent" from the Scottish Government for Berwick Bank, which at 4.1GW would be "one of the world's largest" offshore wind farms.

"[It would] make the single biggest contribution to the achievement of both the Scottish and UK Governments' offshore wind targets.

"Ensuring mission-critical projects like Berwick Bank get consent quickly and designing the next offshore auction round to deliver over 10 GW of offshore wind will give the transition to clean power by 2030 the significant boost it clearly needs."

At 0952 BST, shares in SSE were up 0.48% at 1,902p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.