UK Energy Department BEIS has confirmed a legal challenge has been taken in relation to the current Contracts for Difference allocation round.
A spokesman told reNEWS: “We run the scheme lawfully and will be contesting this claim.”
The department declined to specify the nature of the legal case or the organisation pursuing it.
“We can’t comment further due to ongoing court proceedings,” added a spokesman.
Officials contacted qualified companies late last week to inform them of the development, according to multiple high-level sources in the offshore wind industry.
No further details have been disclosed to CfD3 participants, it is understood.
BEIS and its CfD delivery partners, which include National Grid’s Electricity Market Reform Delivery Body and the Low Carbon Contracts Company, will extend the sealed bid window dates beyond the 15 August deadline.
Sealed bidding will now be allowed until 29 August. The window opened on 8 August.
“It is very frustrating,” said one senior executive, who added that developers have been given very little information.
An independent audit process was due to run to 3 September with the first results expected between 6 and 9 September, however, industry insiders now expect these dates to change.
The EMR Delivery Body declined to comment. The LCCC said it is aware of industry concerns and queries but declined to comment.
At least 9GW of consented offshore wind projects are eligible to bid in the allocation round for so-called Pot 2 less established technologies, including SSE Renewables’ 1.5GW Seagreen off Scotland and Innogy’s 1.4GW Sofia on the Dogger Bank off east England.
These projects will compete with around 1GW of remote island wind farms off Scotland, including SSE’s 457MW Viking on Shetland and Uisensis Power’s eponymous 180MW project on Lewis.
Up to 6GW of capacity is up for grabs.