German renewable energy giant RWE has this week signed a 30-year concession agreement with the Danish Energy Agency (Energistyrelsen) for the rights to build and operate Denmark's largest offshore wind farm to date, the 1GW Thor.
The wind farm will be built off the Danish west coast and is scheduled to reach full operation in 2027. Once fully operational, Thor would be capable of producing enough green electricity to supply the equivalent of more than one million Danish households. Total investment costs have been estimated at DKK 15.5 billion ($2,3 billion).
Several bidders had offered to build the offshore wind farm with the largest possible capacity and at a minimum price of only 0.01 øre/kWh, leading the Danish Energy Agency to opt for a lottery system to select the winner - RWE - back in December 2021.
Commenting on the concession agreement signing, Pål Coldevin, Executive Vice President for Offshore Development Nordics, Poland and Baltics at RWE Renewables said: "Scandinavia, and Denmark in particular, are important strategic growth markets for us. Denmark not only has very favorable wind conditions, the country also has ambitions to deploy even more offshore wind power.
"We are looking forward to working with the Danish Government and other partners, and in the upcoming months we will be starting our preliminary surveys. With Thor, we have two projects off the Danish coast and this means that we are making a major contribution to Denmark's green energy transition."
Dan Jørgensen, Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities in Denmark, said: "I'm delighted about this agreement with RWE and Thor Wind Farm I/S on the Thor Offshore Wind Farm, because it shows that Danish wind power is a good business on the world market. We built Denmark's first offshore wind farm 30 years ago because we had a vision and a belief in the potential of offshore wind power. Today, we can see that further deployment is not solely driven by political ambition but also, to an entirely new degree, by strong market forces. Wind power is not only good for the climate, it can also be really good business."
Credit: DEA
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