TotalEnergies has been selected as the winner of the latest German tender for the N-9.4 offshore wind site in the North Sea, which can accommodate 1 GW of installed offshore wind capacity.
TotalEnergies, through its subsidiary Offshore Wind One GmbH, submitted the winning bid in an auction that attracted multiple zero-subsidy offers, initiating a dynamic bidding round.
The final price was EUR 180 million for the site, which has not been pre-investigated and has a grid connection capacity of 1 GW. The concession is granted for a period of 25 years, extendable to 35 years.
The tender for the N-9.4 site, which covers 141 square kilometres, was launched in February 2025. N-9.4 is located in very close proximity to the N-9.1 and N-9.2 sites , jointly owned by RWE and TotalEnergies. The company said it intends to prioritise the development of this cluster and leverage synergies to optimise construction and operating costs for the benefit of the customers.
The offshore wind farm will connect to the NOR-9-4 (BalWin5) offshore grid, which will be built by TenneT and is expected to go into operation in 2032.
“ I congratulate our member company Total Energies on its auction success! Total Energies has secured a development portfolio of 7.5 gigawatts, making it the largest developer of offshore wind farms in Germany, ” said Stefan Thimm , Managing Director of the German industry organisation BWO (Bundesverband Windenergie Offshore/Federal Association of Offshore Wind Energy).
“The results of the auction for site N-9.4 clearly demonstrate how significantly the risks for offshore wind developers have increased in recent years due to geopolitical tensions and supply bottlenecks. The current auction process no longer reflects economic realities.”
“In addition to mandatory overplanting, these include rigid implementation deadlines and the associated penalties. These risks are reflected in the significantly lower auction proceeds compared to previous years and only two zero-cent bids.”
According to BWO, one of the challenges of the auction was the mandatory overplanting requirement for the N-9.4 site for the first time. TotalEnergies will have to equip the site with 10 per cent to 20 per cent more installed capacity than can be fed into the grid, which increases the efficiency of the grid connection but also the investment required for the wind farm, said BWO.
“I welcome the fact that the responsible authorities have quickly complied with our request to keep the overplanting requirements more flexible than initially planned. However, this is not sufficient for the future. Based on the current results, fixed requirements should be eliminated altogether in the future,” said Thimm .
When it comes to upcoming tenders, the 2 GW N-10.1 and the 500 MW N-10.2 sites are planned to be put out to tender by August 2025.
The sites have been centrally investigated by the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency and cover 182 square kilometres.
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