Zero Bids in Danish Offshore Wind Tender

December 6, 2024, by Adnan Memija

The Danish Energy Agency (DEA) received no offers for any of the three offshore wind farms in the North Sea (North Sea I A1, A2, and A3) that were up for bidding in the country’s latest offshore wind auction.

The first 3 GW of Denmark’s 6 GW offshore wind tendering procedure expired on Thursday, 5 November.

Lars Aagard, the country’s Minister for Climate, Energy, and Utilities, has instructed the DEA to engage in discussions with the market to determine why no bids were submitted, despite several companies showing interest during the initial market dialogue.

“This is a very disappointing result. The circumstances for offshore wind in Europe have changed significantly in a relatively short time, including large price and interest rate increases,” said the minister.

Along with the three offshore wind farms in the North Sea, the tender also covers three offshore wind farms in Danish coastal waters—Hesselø, Kattegat, and Kriegers Flak II. The deadline for submitting bids for these farms is 1 April 2025.

In April this year, Denmark opened the country’s largest-ever offshore wind tender, offering a minimum of 6 GW of new capacity across six wind farm sites, with the overplanting option allowing for 10 GW or more of new capacity to be added.

The projects tendered in this round will be built without state subsidies and with a yearly concession payment. This means, that the bidders will participate in the tenders by bidding a yearly concession payment to the Danish state across a 30-year period, for the right to use the seabed.

The concession payment is combined with the Danish state co-owning each of the tendered offshore wind farms with a minority ownership of 20 per cent.

Denmark’s operating offshore wind farms currently have a capacity of 2.7 GW.