The Dutch government’s call for tenders for Borssele III and IV offshore wind sites is set to be launched today, with the period for submitting bids ending at 5 p.m. on 29 September.
As of this tender round, turbines used for projects must have a nominal capacity of 6MW at least, in line with market trends, according to Project and Site Description document issued by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO.nl).
The price cap for this tender round has been set at 11.975 Eurocent/kWh, down from 12.400 Eurocent/kWh in the last round.
However, according to recent report by Loyens & Loeff law firm, this will probably not be a relevant figure anymore, given the outcome of the first Borssele tender . The deviation from the winning bid in the first tender will be more of a question here, Loyens & Loeff said.
Companies are allowed to file three applications in total, as they can submit a single application covering both sites and one separate application for each individual site.
Grants and permits for Borssele III and IV wind farm sites will be awarded by the RVO.nl under the SDE+ regime (Stimulation of Sustainable Energy Production/ Stimulering Duurzame Energieproductie).
The grant available is capped at EUR 2.4 billion for Borssele III and EUR 2.6 billion for Borssele IV.
The company that submits the lowest bid for a project will receive both the grant and the permit to build, operate and decommission a wind farm.
The minimum nominal capacity of an offshore wind farm that will be built at the Borssele site III is set at 331MW and the maximum is 360MW. Borssele IV can house a wind farm with a minimum capacity of 351MW and a maximum of 380MW.
The Dutch transmission system operator TenneT will develop and operate the offshore grid connections. The tender winner and TenneT agree upon a Realisation Agreement and a Connection and Transmission Agreement, required prior to realisation or operation of the connection.
Offshore WIND Staff