Denmark's Largest Wind Farm: Bidders Given 4 Months to Prepare Final Bids

Credit: Danish Energy Agency
Credit: Danish Energy Agency

The Danish Energy Agency on Thursday published the final tender conditions for the tendering of Thor Offshore Wind Farm, which will be the country's largest. 

"With the publication, all the basic elements of the tender are in place, and the bidders now have four months to prepare their final bid for the offshore wind farm," the DEA said.

Earlier this year, state aid for Thor Offshore Wind Farm was approved by the European Commission, and in May, the plan for Thor was environmentally approved on the basis of a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA).

As part of the tendering process, the Danish Energy Agency, in line with previous Danish offshore wind tenders, has carried out a negotiation phase, which has provided for adjustments in the tender conditions with the aim to reduce the bid price for the offshore wind farm, the agency said.

"At the same time, the Danish Energy Agency has ensured that relevant statutory executive orders for Thor will enter into force on 1 July, 2021," the agency added.

Thor Offshore Wind Farm is the first of the three offshore wind farms decided as part of the Energy Agreement from 2018. Thor will be the largest offshore wind farm in Denmark and will be established at least 22 km off the coast at Thorsminde on Jutland's west coast

The offshore wind farm is tendered with the flexibility of 800-1000 MW. In addition, the grid connection from the wind farm to the shore is included in the tender.

Thor will be able to supply power to approximately one million Danish households. For comparison, Kriegers Flak, which is currently the country's largest wind farm, will have a production capacity of 604 MW and will be able to cover the annual electricity consumption of around. 600,000 Danish households.

According to the DEA, the total investment cost for the Thor offshore wind farm is estimated to be around 15.5 billion Danish crowns ($2,48 billion).

Thor must be fully established and connected to the grid no later than by the end of 2027, and the licence for electricity production is given for 30 years with the possibility of an extension for 5 years.

As a result of the Thor site evaluations, the Danish Energy Agency in May reduced the size of the wind farm site from 440 km2 to 286 km2.

Talking about the reason behind the decision to narrow down the size of the proposed wind farm site, DEA said at the time: "The result of the SEA process as well as the site-investigation and other considerations have led to the narrowing down of the site for Thor. 

"The process of narrowing down the site has taken into account a number of factors, including visual impact, cumulative visual aspects, birds, stone reefs, raw materials, fishing interest and safety of navigation."

Earlier this year, in January, DEA said that six consortia had pre-qualified to take part in the tender for Thor.

The pre-qualified consortia are:

  • SSE Renewables Offshore Windfarm Holdings Limited and Thor OFW K/S (owned by Copenhagen Infrastructure IV Thor OFW ApS and Andel Holding A/S) on behalf of a not yet established subsidiary
  • Swan Wind P/S (ultimately owned by Eneco Wind B.V. and European Energy A/S)
  • Thor Wind Farm I/S (owned by RWE Wind Holding A/S and RWE Offshore Wind A/S)
  • Total Renewables S.A.S and Iberdrola Renovables Internacional S.A.U on behalf of a not yet established entity
  • Vattenfall Vindkraft A/S on behalf of a not yet established entity
  • Ørsted Wind Power A/S

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