AR7 was supposed to be another dry renewables auction story but it actually tells you whether the UK is serious about building clean power at scale.
AR7 secured a record 14.7GW of new renewable capacity across offshore wind, onshore wind, solar and tidal. Offshore wind alone delivered roughly 8.4GW. After a previous round failed to attract offshore bids this one matters because it signals scale, pipeline and tens of billions of pounds of private capital lining up behind UK projects.
Kirsten told me “When we saw the Clean Power 30 plan come out it was a very ambitious journey. I think we’re all on the net zero page but how we get there we’ve got to get there at pace and speed and we’re not going to get there by waiting to be told what to do.” For her this is about policy, planning and industry moving together rather than working in isolation.
“AR7 has restored that commercial realism and it gave developers bankable low risk financial models. What that ultimately does is reduce that volatility and give that stronger investor confidence.”
After a failed round and then one where strike prices were so tight projects struggled to stack up she believes this sends a clear message that the UK is investable again. But she did not pretend the job is done.
“The key to all of that is grid upgrade. That’s absolutely essential. That’s the biggest bottleneck and the biggest brake on any delivery.” We are trying to connect offshore wind to a network built decades ago around coal and gas near cities and she was blunt that reforming connections and upgrading infrastructure is now critical.
We also talked about jobs and local communities because scale only works if people see the benefit.
Kirsten said “we need to get those people on board and see the value that new source of energy is going to bring to them, it’s a balance of need and pace required to ensure these developments continue at a sensible schedule and a sensible price.”
Her message was about certainty. “We need to have that investor confidence and we need to have that consumer confidence. That’s sometimes a bit of a relentless task.”
AR7 might look technical but it is really about growth, supply chains and whether Britain can turn ambition into lower bills.
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