April 2017 – Ignition Month for Future OWFs in Europe

The UK launched the second Contracts for Difference (CfD) auction on 3 April, the same day the deadline was set for developers to place bids at Germany’s first competitive offshore wind tender. This month is significant for offshore wind in France as well, as the selection phase of the country’s new competitive dialogue tendering process will begin.

In the UK, renewable energy developers will compete for GBP 290 million worth of contracts. Eligible projects for this CfD round are those planned to be commissioned in 2021/22 and 2022/23. Contracts for Difference are won through a competitive process which drives down energy costs for consumers and guarantees companies a certain price for the low-carbon electricity they produce over 15 years. This gives them the support and certainty they need to attract investment and get projects off the ground, the UK government said.

The auction process will continue over the coming months and is expected to draw to a close by the autumn, when the winners of the auction and final clearing prices will be announced.

In Germany, the deadline for submission of bids to the Federal Network Agency at the country’s first competitive offshore wind tender has been officially set to 1 April, however, since the date fell on Saturday, the developers had until 3 April to file their bids. The evaluation process has begun immediately after the deadline expired, and after the tender award procedure, participants will be informed of the decision.

Within this call, up to 1,550MW of offshore wind capacity is available for German projects scheduled to go into operation after 31 December 2020.

The companies competing for offshore wind sites at the third tender call in France had until 6 March to submit their applications for the second phase of the competitive dialogue, with French Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) then having a period of one month to process the applications before delivering the list of candidates it proposes to select for the second phase to the Minister for Energy, who will then designate successful candidates and invite them to participate in the selection phase of the competitive dialogue, scheduled to start this month.

This stage of the new offshore wind tendering process in France is expected to end no later than October 2017, with the winner(s) announced at the start of 2018.

Offshore WIND Staff