Estonia’s Latest Offshore Wind Lease Auction Attracts Zero Bids

July 9, 2024, by Adnan Memija

The auction for Saare 3, Estonia’s third offshore wind farm area, received no bids, as announced by the country’s Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (CPTRA) on July 4th.

In its most recent offshore wind tender, Estonia aimed to grant the Saare 3 sea area, covering 20.1 square kilometres, with a starting bid price of EUR 301,500. The minimum bid increment was EUR 50,000.

The auction started on 2 July and ended on 4 July. Two companies, Norway’s Deep Wind Offshore and OÜ Utilitas Wind, qualified to participate in the auction and each paid a deposit of EUR 6,030. Despite their qualification, neither company submitted a bid during the auction.

*Caption: Excerpt of the Saare 3 area from the map application for superficies licences for public water bodies; Source: Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority*

In April, CPTRA announced that it was reviewing ten applications for three offshore wind sites west of Saaremaa.

The ten applications were submitted by Estonia Offshore Wind DevCo (Ignitis Group), Deep Wind Offshore, and Utilitas Wind for all three sites – Saare 2.1, Saare 2.2 and Saare 3 – and by Sunly Wind for the Saare 3 site.

Deep Wind Offshore won the rights for the first two areas, Saare 2.1 and Saare 2.2.

The Norwegian company intends to deploy as many as 98 wind turbines, potentially generating up to 1,560 MW of power in the first area, and up to 56 turbines with a combined capacity of up to 840 MW in the second area, according to its building permit applications.