Value chain · CLM-0279
In plain terms
A few UK renewable-energy auction contracts are for technologies that can generate more steadily than wind or solar: waste-to-energy plants, biomass-with-heat plants, and a handful of small pilot geothermal plants in Cornwall. Their contracted prices, in fixed 2012-price terms, range from about 46 to 119 pounds per megawatt-hour. These are the best real UK price signals in the register for something closer to firm power, but they are all small in scale and none of them carries a formal obligation to deliver on demand.
The claim as recorded
The closest real, contracted UK CfD prices to a "firm" power cost are: Energy from Waste with CHP at GBP 80.00/MWh (AR1, 2018/19 delivery) and GBP 45.99/MWh (AR4, 2024/25 delivery); Dedicated Biomass with CHP at GBP 74.75/MWh (AR2, 2021/22 delivery); and Geothermal at GBP 119.00/MWh (AR5, 2026/27-2027/28 delivery, pilot-scale 2-5 MW Cornwall plants) - all in 2012 prices.
Scope and limits
These technologies are dispatchable in practice (fuel- or resource-supply constrained, not weather constrained) but the CfD contract itself still pays only for output, with no separate capacity or availability payment - so even these are not a formal "firm power" price in contract-design terms, only in practical generation-profile terms. Volumes are tiny relative to grid scale (single-digit to double-digit MW), so these prices should not be extrapolated to a grid-scale firm-power cost. Geothermal at 119 GBP/MWh reflects UK geothermal's immaturity, not a mature-technology cost floor.
What it assumes
Subsidised (CfD top-up over wholesale reference price, not a market price); strike prices in 2012 prices; small individual plant sizes (2-5 MW for geothermal, 0.64-85 MW for biomass/waste-CHP); contract length per CfD standard terms (not separately verified).
Where it comes from
AR1: "Wren Power and Pulp... Energy from Waste with CHP... 80.00... 2018-2019"; AR2: "Grangemouth Renewable Energy Plant... Dedicated Biomass with CHP... 74.75... 2021/22"; AR4: "Redcar Holdings Limited... Energy from Waste (with CHP)... 45.99... 2024/25"; AR5: "Manhay/Penhallow/United Downs Geothermal Power Plant... 119.00... 2026/27" / "2027/28".
Basis: GBP2012, NOMINAL contract/REAL basis-year convention, FIRMED (dispatchable-ish, see limits)
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-021 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-0279
CLM-0279, Energy Aperture, as of 2023.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-162
- CLM-0276The price the UK government agrees to pay offshore wind farms, per unit of electricity actually generated, dropped sharply from 2015 to...CLM-0278The price the UK government agrees to pay onshore wind farms, per unit of electricity actually generated, roughly halved from 2015 to 2022...
- Also from SRC-163
- CLM-0276The price the UK government agrees to pay offshore wind farms, per unit of electricity actually generated, dropped sharply from 2015 to...
- Also from SRC-165
- CLM-0276The price the UK government agrees to pay offshore wind farms, per unit of electricity actually generated, dropped sharply from 2015 to...CLM-0277The price the UK government agrees to pay solar farms, per unit of electricity actually generated, has stayed close to 46-50 pounds per...CLM-0278The price the UK government agrees to pay onshore wind farms, per unit of electricity actually generated, roughly halved from 2015 to 2022...
- Also from SRC-166
- CLM-0276The price the UK government agrees to pay offshore wind farms, per unit of electricity actually generated, dropped sharply from 2015 to...CLM-0277The price the UK government agrees to pay solar farms, per unit of electricity actually generated, has stayed close to 46-50 pounds per...CLM-0278The price the UK government agrees to pay onshore wind farms, per unit of electricity actually generated, roughly halved from 2015 to 2022...