The Labour government increased the budget for new contracts to attract more developers, after industry groups blamed a lack of bidders in the past on low prices.

The government said the contracts would deliver 8.4 gigawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 12 million homes.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer's centre-left administration described the auction as "the biggest single procurement of offshore wind energy in British and European history".

"With these results, Britain is taking back control of our energy sovereignty," Energy Secretary Ed Miliband added in a statement.

Britain is one of the leading players in renewable energy in Europe owing to onshore and offshore wind power.

The country has set a target to consume zero carbon electricity by 2030 and is aiming to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to combat climate change.

A centre-right think tank, however, argued that higher costs would ultimately fall on consumers, highlighting the challenge Starmer faces in expanding renewable energy while easing household bills.

"The government's sprint to buy as much wind as possible while it's expensive will actually lock us into higher electricity prices, making it harder to decarbonise," said Sam Richards, chief executive of Britain Remade, who previously served as an adviser to ex-prime minister Boris Johnson from the opposition Conservative party.

But Greenpeace noted that new wind farms are cheaper than new gas, nuclear and biomass plants.

"These new wind farms will lower our bills when they come online, and shield us against the volatile fossil fuel prices driven by the actions of unreliable petrostates," said Douglas Parr, policy director for Greenpeace UK.