French Developer Winner of Estonia’s Latest Offshore Wind Tender

January 23, 2025, by Adnan Memija

Estonia’s Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (CPTRA) has selected Oxan Energy, a French-based offshore wind developer, as the winner of the auction for the Saare 1 area. The company plans to install as many as 60 floating wind turbines, with a combined capacity of 900 MW.

The French company submitted a bid of EUR 1.32 million, which was also the starting price of the auction, launched this month.

Oxan Energy, together with its partner SNOW, can commence with the development of an offshore wind farm in the Saare area, which is located approximately 60 kilometres to the west of Saaremaa Island.

Estonia CPTRA — *Source: The Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (CPTRA)*

According to Oxan’s application, the offshore wind project will feature up to 60 turbines with a total capacity of up to 900 MW.

The project will use floating wind technology, but due to the water depth reaching up to 85 metres, there is potential to combine both floating and fixed-bottom technologies, the company said.

The offshore wind farm is expected to be commissioned in 2033.

“Estonia has made significant steps to deploy offshore wind energy, including one-stop shop for permitting, the grid connections and the ports infrastructures. Oxan Energy feels privileged to contribute to the decarbonization of Estonia and thus strengthen our presence in Europe,” said Nicolas Paul-Dauphin, CEO of Oxan Energy.

In December 2024, the CPTRA announced that it would launch again a tender for the development of an offshore wind farm in the Saare 1 area, nearly a year after the initial auction ended without any bids.

Three companies that submitted a competing application for a superficies licence qualified to participate in the auction were CI Estonia Wind GmbH & Co. KG, owned by German Luxcara, OÜ Utilitas Wind, and Oxan Energy.

Estonia to Relaunch 1.2 GW Offshore Wind Tender in January 2025

Planning & Permitting

In January 2025, Sunly Wind revealed that it had applied for a superficies licence with the CPTRA for an offshore wind farm in the Saare 7 area. At the same time, the CPTRA initiated a procedure for the area under which it invites any competing applications to be submitted, in which case an auction would be launched for the site.