UK Trends and Developments Contributed by: Andrea Stauber, Martina Antosova, Medhavi Singh and Sadyant Sasiprabhu, King & Spalding International LLP
the first 72 hours in power, the new UK government lifted what was essentially a de facto ban on onshore wind, by placing the approval and implementation of new onshore wind projects on an equal footing with other infrastructure projects. The government’s decision to lift the de facto ban on onshore wind development in England began to pro- duce tangible results over the course of 2025. The Onshore Wind Industry Taskforce worked through 2025 to accelerate deployment, and the AR7a results announced in February 2026 reflected this renewed ambition: 1.3 GW of onshore wind capacity secured contracts at an average strike price of GBP72.24/ MWh. The NSIP threshold increase from 50 MW to 100 MW from 31 December 2025 has already begun to ease the planning burden for mid-scale projects, although significant challenges persist at the local authority level. Offshore wind delivered an even stronger signal: the seventh CfD Allocation Round (AR7) results, announced on 14 January 2026, saw a record-breaking 8.4 GW of capacity awarded con- tracts. The results include three of the world’s largest planned wind farms. These results represent a criti- cal step towards the government’s Clean Power 2030 target. CCUS and hydrogen Given its proximity to the North Sea, the UK is well- placed to make use of CCUS technology for sub- seabed storage. As previously mentioned, Powering Up Britain set a target of capturing and storing 20–30 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year by 2030 and more than 50 million tonnes per year by 2035, although the government acknowledged in December 2024 that the 2030 target is no longer achievable, and has not yet set revised targets. In October 2021, the East Coast Cluster – a collabora- tion between Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP), Net Zero Teesside and Zero Carbon Humber – was designated as the UK’s first “Track-1” CCUS cluster. The licences, which are for an appraisal term of eight years, relate to storage sites located approximately 1,400 metres beneath the seabed in the southern North Sea. The cluster’s first two projects reached financial close in December 2024 and began con- struction in mid-2025.
One of the key criticisms is that CCUS is a new tech- nology that has yet to be proven at scale. Scientists and environmentalists are also concerned that CCUS will be used to prolong oil and gas development in the North Sea. However, proponents of CCUS argue that CCUS is the only option that enables deep decarboni- sation for industries such as steel, cement, chemical refining, glass and ceramics – all of which emit CO₂ as part of the production process. Nuclear In the late 1990s, nuclear power generated approxi- mately 25% of the UK’s electricity. Since then, several plants have been permanently shut down and nuclear currently provides only around 15% of the UK’s elec- tricity. In December 2024, the UK government published its Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, which included extending the lifetimes of existing nuclear projects where possible. It set out several actions to support nuclear energy generation, such as: • working with EDF to support the delivery of a nuclear plant currently under construction, Hinkley Point C; and • extending the lives of advanced gas-cooled reac- tor stations, following inspections and regulatory approvals. The government’s nuclear ambitions extend beyond large-scale reactors. On 10 June 2025, Rolls-Royce SMR was selected as the preferred bidder to partner with Great British Energy – Nuclear (formerly Great British Nuclear) to develop the UK’s first small modu- lar reactors. Each Rolls-Royce SMR unit will gener- ate approximately 470 MW of electricity. In November 2025, the government selected Wylfa in North Wales as the site for the initial project, which will comprise up to three SMR units with a combined capacity of 1.4 GW. Grid connection is targeted for the mid-2030s, with a final investment decision expected in 2029. The programme is expected to support up to 3,000 jobs at peak construction at Wylfa and thousands more across the UK supply chain. The final investment decision for Sizewell C in July 2025, followed by financial close on 4 November 2025,
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