The UK’s T-4 Capacity Market auction has cleared in its third round at a record high of £63 (US$75.9)/kW/year, more than double the previous record high price.
Of the ~46MW of pre-qualified capacity eligible for the 2026/27 auction, 46,031.692MW won contracts, representing 93.42%.
Significantly, the number of battery storage assets continued to grow. Of the 1.9GW of de-rated capacity to pre-qualify, 1.29GW secured contracts.
The T-4 is the mechanism by which the government contracts four years in advance for energy capacity to advance the UK’s energy security aims.
This follows last year’s significant growth, which saw a ~800MW jump in capacity that pushed the contracts above 1GW. This split between 107 units, with more than 60% of this storage over two hours in duration.
Of this year’s 143 winning battery storage units, over 90% have contracts with a 15 year duration.
Renewables also surged, with 76.85MW of onshore wind, offshore wind and solar winning contracts. This is eight times the volume that won contracts last year, even if it remains a small segment of the overall capacity procured.
The T-4 results follow last week’s T-1 2023-24 Capacity Market auction, which cleared at its second highest price ever, with 5,782.777MW procured at a clearing price of £60/kW/y. That included 627MW of battery storage, with T-1 auctions contracting one year ahead.
Gas remained the big winner in the auction, growing to over 29GW, leading to questions around its use given Britain’s goal of a net zero electricity system by 2035.
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