Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what his timescale is for announcing the timetable for the Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 4; and what steps he is taking to help ensure that renewable energy contributes to future economic recovery.

As announced by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister in October 2020, the next Contracts for Difference (CfD) auction round (Allocation Round 4) is due to open in late 2021. Preparations for the round are ongoing, and we will publish the timetable for the round later this year.

The Government is eager to deliver supply chain investment from CfD contracts. The public consultation on proposals to strengthen Supply Chain Plan policy has now closed. A Government response will be published in due course.

These measures sit alongside the Prime Minister’s announcement on £160 million of new funding towards investment to upgrade ports and infrastructure and long-term ambitions to increase renewable energy capacity, which, together, will support new UK content, jobs and investment.