The £730 million allocated for Contracts for Difference (CfD) auctions will leave an emissions reduction gap of up to 70TWh.

That’s according to the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), which has said the government need to contract this volume of low carbon power beyond existing funding to avoid missing its 2030 target of cutting emissions by 62% below 1990 levels.

The group recommends the UK commits to a further 80-100TWh of contracts beyond the delivery of planned auctions and Hinkley Point C.

It estimates the existing £730 million pot for CfDs in the 2020s is enough to procure only around 55TWh of low carbon generation.

A spokesperson for the CCC said: “This could be increased at no cost to bill payers by also offering contracts to onshore wind and solar developers.

“Estimates from both government and industry suggest onshore wind is the cheapest form of new build generation in the UK.”