LCCC grants Dogger Bank A offshore wind farm an eight-month CfD delay to July 2027 amid GE Vernova turbine repairs and commissioning setbacks in the UK.
Research Desk
The Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC) has approved a revised Contracts for Difference (CfD) start date of 31 July 2027 for the first 300 MW tranche of the 1.2 GW Dogger Bank A offshore wind farm in the UK.
The new deadline, which applies to the contract awarded under Allocation Round 3 (AR3), replaces the previous contractual deadline of 30 November 2026 and represents an eight-month extension.
SSE, Equinor, and Vårgrønn, the developers behind the project, are understood to have advised LCCC that Dogger Bank A would be unable to meet the commissioning milestones and minimum generating capacity requirements needed to activate the contract by the original deadline.
The extension concerns the contractual requirements for bringing the first 300 MW CfD tranche into effect and does not represent a new target for the wind farm's first electricity generation. Turbine repairs and commissioning work continue in parallel.
The revised schedule follows construction difficulties in 2024, including two blade failures involving GE Vernova Haliade-X turbines. Blade damage incidents occurred in May and August 2024.
Following the August incident, the project team reported that GE Vernova's investigation had linked the failure to conditions encountered during turbine commissioning. The incidents prompted further inspections across the wind farm, which identified additional repair requirements.
More than ten turbines are understood to require replacement blades and work on certain nacelle components. The two turbines affected by the earlier blade failures are also expected to receive replacement towers, nacelles, and blades.
These repairs have added to the commissioning workload at Dogger Bank A, which was originally scheduled for completion in 2024.
A project spokesperson attributed the CfD extension to the continuing effects of the 2024 construction setbacks and their impact on commissioning. The developers indicated that the revised timetable was consistent with delays previously communicated to the market.
The commissioning difficulties described have affected Dogger Bank A only.
The 95-turbine Dogger Bank A project, located approximately 130 km off the UK coast, is now expected to become fully operational in the third quarter of 2027, according to the latest SSE energy market disclosure cited in the report.
Despite the extended timetable, the developers maintain that the wind farm will be substantially available for electricity generation by the end of 2026. The extension applies only to the first 300 MW CfD tranche.
No changes have been reported for the remaining two contract tranches, which retain their existing long-stop dates of 31 January and 31 May 2027, respectively.
On the record
Contracts for Difference (CfD) deadline extensions
Europe
Power
23 October 2026
2 min read
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