Ministers have extended Dogger Bank A’s time‑limited exemption from the requirement to hold an electricity transmission licence by a further year, moving the end‑date from 19 December 2025 to 18 December 2026. The amending order was made on 14 November 2025, laid before Parliament on 19 November, and comes into force on 18 December 2025, maintaining legal cover while the project completes commissioning and prepares the transfer of its transmission assets.

Why this matters is simple: section 4(1)(b) of the Electricity Act 1989 prohibits transmission for supply without a licence, and the usual generator commissioning window is capped at 18 months. Government can grant individual exemptions where transfer to an Offshore Transmission Owner (OFTO) is running behind for reasons outside a developer’s control-preventing an artificial stop‑start to clean power output.

Dogger Bank is no ordinary scheme. At 3.6 GW across phases A, B and C, it is set to be the world’s largest offshore wind farm, using HVDC technology to move power ashore. Dogger Bank A connects into National Grid’s 400 kV Creyke Beck substation in Yorkshire and began exporting first power during 2023–24 milestones, with full build‑out continuing.

Delays have been real, and publicly documented. A House of Lords scrutiny note recorded that the initial 2025 exemption for Dogger Bank A was sought to manage schedule slippage following two separate turbine blade failures that slowed construction-one reason the commissioning and asset transfer timeline tightened. Extending the exemption reduces the risk of a forced pause while technical and commercial close‑out continues.

Under the OFTO regime run by Ofgem, generators build and then sell their offshore transmission assets to a licensed owner through competitive tender. Dogger Bank A sits in Tender Round 10, with later rounds covering B and C; the exemption falls away earlier if the assets transfer to the “successful bidder”. Today’s extension keeps the project on the right side of the rules until that sale completes.

On the grid side, the National Energy System Operator (NESO) is pushing connections reform to clear a queue that has swelled far beyond what is needed for clean power targets. A temporary pause on new applications earlier this year is being used to implement milestone‑based, readiness‑driven access-critical context for large offshore projects reaching final tests and asset handover.

For the energy transition, continuity is the win. The Climate Change Committee notes that reaching at least 43 GW of offshore wind by 2030 requires installation rates to roughly triple versus the average so far this decade. Avoiding cliff‑edges in licensing or grid compliance helps turn capacity in the water into clean electricity on the system.

There’s a people story here too. RenewableUK’s 2025 skills report counts around 55,000 UK wind jobs today-nearly 40,000 in offshore-and foresees tens of thousands more by 2030 if the project pipeline holds. Keeping major sites like Dogger Bank A on stream sustains work across blades, cabling, HV systems and operations.

What changes on the ground? Not much for consumers, and just enough for project teams: the operator can continue running its HVDC link lawfully while finishing commissioning, compliance testing and the OFTO sale. The exemption is still time‑limited and will lapse sooner if the assets transfer before December 2026-a nudge to close the transaction without jeopardising clean power already flowing to the grid.