Dong Energy filed subsidy-free bids for the 240MW OWP West and 240MW Borkum Riffgrund West 2 wind farms in Germany’s first competitive auction, meaning the projects will receive nothing on top of the wholesale power price.
The Danish energy company said it made a bid of €60 per megawatt-hour for the 110MW Gode Wind 3 project.
The latter will export power via the 600MW DolWin6 grid hub, to be operational in 2023. Borkum Riffgrund West 2 and OWP West will connect to the 900MW DolWin5 grid hub, to be commissioned in 2024.
Dong said it will make final investment decisions on all three projects in 2021.
Dong Energy chief executive of wind power Samuel Leupold said: “The zero subsidy bid is a breakthrough for the cost competitiveness of offshore wind and it demonstrates the technology’s massive global growth potential as a cornerstone in the economically viable shift to green energy systems.
“The zero bid is enabled by a number of circumstances in this auction. Most notably, the realisation window is extended to 2024.
“This allows developers to apply the next generation turbine technology, which will support a major step down in costs. Also, the bid reflects the fact that grid connection is not included.”
Dong is basing the bids on turbines of 13MW to 15MW. It said the sites feature scale, high quality wind speeds and extended lifetimes of up to 30 years.
Image: Dong Energy
