Scotland-headquartered energy company SSE has delayed the commissioning of its Dogger Bank A offshore wind farm to the second half of 2025, ahead of the publication of its latest financial results.
The Dogger Bank A project will have an electricity generation capacity of 1.2GW upon the start of commercial operation, and is part of the broader Dogger Bank wind portfolio. This project consists of four facilities, which will collectively make up the world’s largest offshore wind farm by capacity, with a power generation potential of 5.2GW.
SSE initially planned to commission the project in the first half of 2025, and has not specified planned commissioning dates in greater detail. The company plans to publish its latest financial results, covering the six months to 30 September 2024, next week, on Sunday 13 November, and said that it did not expect its results to be “materially impacted” by the delay in the commissioning of the A project.
However, SSE noted that it expects its upcoming half-year results to include adjusted earnings per share of “more than 45 pence”, a figure that would compare poorly to the adjusted earnings per share of £1.59 reported in the year to 31 March 2024. This figure was also a 5% decline on the adjusted earnings per share reported in the previous 12-month period, and the delay of commissioning a project of such scale will not help this decline in earnings.
The news follows considerable growth in the UK’s wind sector, with EnAppSys reporting that wind power was responsible for 61% of the UK’s total renewable energy output in 2023. Over the summer, SSE and joint venture partner Equinor submitted a scoping report for the fourth phase of the Dogger Bank project, dubbed “D”, which would add 2GW to the project’s total capacity, further expanding the project from its initial three phases.
On the other side of the country, meanwhile, projects in the Celtic Sea are expected to contribute to 4.5GW of new floating offshore wind capacity.
