Dogger Bank South (West)

This notice is being published on a voluntary basis as no new contract is being awarded. This notice relates to the modification of a concession contract for the award of seabed rights for the development, construction and operation of an offshore wind farm which was entered into by The Crown Estate and RWE Renewables UK Dogger Bank South (West) Limited on 17 January 2023, following the completion of The Crown Estate’s Offshore Wind Leasing Round 4 process.

NO NEW CONTRACT IS BEING AWARDED. For the avoidance of doubt, this notice is being published on a voluntary basis as no new contract is being awarded.

This notice relates to the modification of a concession contract for the award of seabed rights for the development, construction and operation of an offshore wind farm which was entered into by The Crown Estate and RWE Renewables UK Dogger Bank South (West) Limited on 17 January 2023, following the completion of The Crown Estate’s Offshore Wind Leasing Round 4 process. The modifications to the contract which are the subject of this notice are that for a period up to the expiration of the option in the Agreement for Lease, (i) developers will pay pro rata monthly, rather than annual, option fee payments with a balancing payment due on completion of the Lease pursuant to the Agreement for Lease.

That balancing payment will be equal to the annual Option Fee which would have been payable in respect of the relevant year less the monthly payments actually made in that year; and (ii) the Agreement for Lease may be terminated without payment of the break payment, and with no Option Fee balancing payment. The Crown Estate considers that these changes are required due to circumstances which it was not possible to foresee at the time of the original award.

The contract therefore needs to be modified due to circumstances which The Crown Estate could not have foreseen and is being modified in accordance with the requirements of regulation 43(1)(c) of the Concession Contracts Regulations 2016. The modifications were made necessary by the following unforeseeable circumstances: (a) The abrupt change in the HVDC transmission infrastructure supply chain supply/demand profile.

(b) Change to the Grid Connection processes (Holistic Network Design, followed by Connections Reform) which required more reinforcement works, themselves being subject to planning permission. (c) Additionally to each of the individual unforeseen circumstances set out above, a change to environmental compensation requirements, including increased requirements of statutory nature bodies, and the introduction of the Marine Recovery Fund route to compensation.

The first limb of the unforeseeable circumstances test is therefore met. The second limb of the unforeseeable circumstances test is satisfied as there is no alteration to the overall nature of the contract, which will remain a public services concession.

The object and purpose of the contract will remain the same under the modifications. The third limb of the unforeseeable circumstances test is also satisfied as the modifications will not exceed 50% of the value of the original concession contract.