The government has today published its response to the January 2021 consultation on a new Supply Chain Plan (SCP) questionnaire.

The response confirms decisions made to restructure the SCP questionnaire, simplify many of the questions and improve the clarity of the guidance for the SCP process.

Both the questionnaire and guidance are now final ahead of the fourth Contracts for Difference (CfD) allocation round, which is set to open in December 2021.

Who completes the SCP questionnaire?

Developers of projects with a capacity of 300MW or more are required to complete the SCP questionnaire as part of their application for an SCP Statement, which they must obtain from the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in order to participate in a CfD allocation round.

Revisions

The revisions to the SCP questionnaire have reduced the number of questions that developers need to answer and made reporting requirements less onerous. The questionnaire has also been redesigned so that it is aligned with the ‘Build Back Better’ plan for growth.

Revisions to the SCP guidance aim to provide greater clarity on the SCP process, from application to implementation.

The government believes that the revised questionnaire strikes the right balance between requesting information that is necessary to assess the merits of an SCP fairly and transparently while keeping requests simple and clear.

SCP application window

It is expected that the SCP application window for the fourth CfD allocation round will open in September 2021, although the specific dates of the window will be confirmed in due course.

Online seminar

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will shortly hold an online seminar on the SCP process. The seminar will allow developers, suppliers and investors to further their understanding of the process in advance of the application window opening.

The seminar will be held on two dates:

  • Tuesday 13 July 2021, 2.00pm–4.00pm
  • Friday 30 July 2021, 2.00pm–4.00pm

The same seminar will be held on both dates. Those wishing to attend should therefore only register for one of the dates.