The Danish Energy Agency has rejected 37 applications for feasibility study permits for offshore wind projects resubmitted under the country’s reactivated ‘open door’ scheme.
The cases had been reassessed following the Danish Energy Board’s cancellation last year of initial rejections made by the DEA for exploration permits in 2023, when the process was suspended over concerns it breached EU law on state aid.
Officials said the reconsidered applications had all been turned down for entailing “illegal state aid” following consultation with the agency’s legal advisers.
“It would be illegal state aid to grant a feasibility study permit that gives the applicant exclusive rights to a given sea area if a permit has value for the applicant and there has been no competition in the area,” said DEA deputy director general Stig Uffe Pedersen.
“Ultimately, it is a matter of complying with EU state aid rules.”
The ‘open door’ scheme was launched in 1999 for small offshore projects in areas not included in competitive state tenders.
The latter will offer a two-way Contract for Difference to winning bidders from this autumn’s 3GW tender and includes stricter delay and withdrawal penalties compared to terms offered to ‘open door’ developers.