Negative
Setback or risk materialised
High Impact
Major milestone or critical setback
Norfolk Boreas defaulted on its UK Contract for Difference (CfD) awarded under Allocation Round 4 in July 2022 at a strike price of £37.35/MWh (2012 prices). On 20 July 2023, Vattenfall announced in its Q2 interim report that it had decided not to proceed with development of Norfolk Boreas, citing cost increases of up to 40% driven by inflation, rising capital costs and supply-chain pressures. Vattenfall took an impairment charge of SEK 5.5 billion (~$530 million), covering write-downs and CfD termination penalties. The decision meant Norfolk Boreas would not deliver against its AR4 CfD milestones and the contract was forfeited; Vattenfall later confirmed it had paid the contractual termination fees to the Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC). Norfolk Boreas was the only AR4 offshore wind project to default on its CfD obligations. The project subsequently passed to RWE through the March 2024 sale of the Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone, which gave RWE the option to re-tender Boreas in a future allocation round under different commercial terms. The default ended the original revenue support route established in July 2022 and means any future build-out of Norfolk Boreas requires a fresh CfD award (or alternative revenue mechanism) to underpin its business case.