Ørsted Reveals German Offshore Wind Play

Ørsted has submitted bids in the second competitive offshore wind tender in Germany opened earlier this month, with the results expected within weeks, the company revealed in its financial report for the first quarter of 2018.

The tender volume in the second round amounts to 1,610MW, comprising the 1,550MW volume set out in the Offshore Wind Energy Act, plus 60MW additional capacity not awarded in the first call for tenders in April 2017 in which Ørsted (formerly DONG Energy) had three winning bids, two of them being zero-subsidy bids.

The maximum bid threshold in the second tender was lowered from EUR 0.12 ct/kWh to EUR 0.1/kWh. The projects which competed in the first tender round and which had a negative value bid were excluded from the second tender round.

Developers bidding to build wind farms in the Baltic Sea have a preferential status in this round. The so-called “Baltic Sea quota” called for a minimum of 500MW to be awarded for offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea, as required by the Offshore Wind Energy Act.

The second tendering round was eligible for offshore wind farms that had been approved before August 2016 or that have an advanced approval status and will be operational after December 31, 2020. Further requirements related to the location of the offshore wind farms within the North and the Baltic Sea.