The Dutch government has confirmed it will stick with the so-called comparative assessment model for the 700MW Hollande Kust Zuid (HKZ) 3&4 offshore wind farm tender.
In a parliamentary letter published by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, climate minister Eric Wiebes said the zero-bid tender would take place by the end of January.
The Hague had considered introducing a multi-round ascending bid auction format for HKZ3&4 but it would have required timely changes to Dutch law.
Amendments to the Offshore Wind Energy Act are expected to come into effect by mid-2019, the minister said.
The zero-bid tender rules for HKZ3&4 will be tweaked to limit the risk of objections and appeals to avoid a repeat of the challenges to the HKZ1&2 result by Innogy and Eneco.
Vattenfall won the right to develop the up to 750MW HKZ 1&2 in March by topping a comparative assessment of six qualitative and quantitative criteria.
Developers including Orsted have criticised this method of tendering for being a “beauty contest” by excluding competition on price.