Denmark Getting Ready for Spring Offshore Wind Tender

January 15, 2024, by Adrijana Buljan

The Danish Energy Agency (DEA) is doing one last check with the market before launching the offshore wind tenders for at least 6 GW of capacity that would be installed by 2030 across several sites, starting with the first auction this Spring.

On 12 January, the DEA published revised draft tender documents for a follow-up market dialogue ahead of the tender expected to be published in Spring 2024.

The draft tender documents set the framework for installing a minimum of 6 GW offshore wind, with the possibility of overplanting, by the end of 2030 and represent a concrete implementation of the political agreement adopted on 30 May 2023.

Under last year’s agreement, the Danish government plans to put out to tender 9 GW of offshore wind, 6 GW across four project sites and a further 3 GW at the Bornholm Energy Island. This could result in even higher installed capacity with the overplanting option that the agreement greenlighted.

The DEA first put the draft tender documents up for a market dialogue on 30 June 2023 and is now running a follow-up round of consultation with the revised material to allow the market to get familiar with it before launching the tenders.

Draft tender documents for the 3 GW at Bornholm Energy Island are not published in this market dialogue since the material is still being prepared, but many of the changes proposed for the four other sites are also expected to apply to Bornholm Energy Island.

The sites to be put out to tender that will bring a minimum of 6 GW of offshore wind capacity are the 3 GW Nordsøen I (North Sea I), the 1 GW Kattegat II, the 1 GW Kriegers Flak II, and the Hesselø site that could have between 800 MW and 1.2 GW of capacity.

The changes made to the draft tender documents are within the framework of the political agreement from May 2023, including the agreements on the timetables for the construction of the offshore wind farms, which are expected to continue to be under construction by 2030, according to the DEA.

The final tender documents are expected to be published during Spring 2024. The deadline for the submission of tenders for the North Sea I area is expected to be in December 2024 and for Hesselø, Kattegat II and Kriegers Flak II in February 2025.

Danish TSO Energinet and German TSO 50Hertz have already initiated the procurement process for Bornholm Energy Island, while the offshore wind farm at the energy island will be tendered by the Danish Energy Agency, with the procurement expected to be announced later this Spring.