Luck of the Draw to Decide Danish Offshore Wind Tender Winner

The Danish Energy Agency has invited a number of bidders for the Thor offshore wind farm to draw lots, as more than one bidder has offered the minimum price of DKK 0.01/kWh in combination with the largest capacity.

More than one bidder has offered to build the Thor offshore wind farm to the maximum capacity of 1,000 MW at the minimum price of DKK 0.01/kWh, and the tender will therefore be decided by a lottery draw in accordance with the specifications, the agency said.

The draw will take place on 1 December 2021 at 11:00 in the Danish Energy Agency. The bidders involved are invited to the lottery draw to ensure full transparency about the process, the agency said. There will be no access to the press and only the invited bidders will participate in the draw.

The draw will be attended by an independent auditor and by the Attorney General to ensure that the draw complies with the terms of the tendering law.

When the draw is completed, the bid winner will be announced directly to all bidders as well as with a press release from Denmark’s Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities and the Danish Energy Agency on the same day.

According to the tender specifications, the concession agreement is awarded to the tenderer with the lowest tender price. If more people bid with the same lowest bid price, the bidder with the highest proposed wind farm capacity wins. If both the bid price and the capacity are the same, the tender is decided by a draw.

Earlier this year, the Danish Energy Agency pre-qualified six companies and consortia to bid for the Thor offshore wind farm.

The applicants included Ørsted; Vattenfall; a consortium of Total and Iberdrola; Thor Wind Farm I/S, owned by RWE Wind Holding A/S and RWE Offshore Wind A/S; a joint venture of SSE Renewables Offshore Windfarm Holdings Limited and Thor OFW K/S, which is owned by Copenhagen Infrastructure IV Thor OFW ApS and Andel Holding A/S; and Swan Wind P/S, a joint venture between Eneco Wind B.V. and European Energy A/S.

Denmark plans to have the grid connection for the Thor offshore wind farm ready by 1 January 2025. The offshore wind farm must be fully built in the Danish North Sea and connected to the grid by 31 December 2027.