Norway has approved five applicants for its upcoming 1500MW Sorlige Nordsjo 2 offshore wind auction round.
“Today, we can announce that several strong applicants have been qualified to participate in the auction for offshore wind for Sorlige Nordsjo 2. We have decided to proceed with the auction, which will begin on 18 March. I look forward to a good auction between these companies,” said Minister of Energy Terje Aasland.
Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy received seven applications. The five qualified applicants are a consortium made of Aker Offshore Wind, BP and Statkraft; another consortium consisting of Equinor and RWE; Norseman Wind (an EnBW subsidiary); a partnership between Shell, Lyse and Eviny; and Ventyr (Parkwind and Ingka).
Hydroelectric Corporation and China’s MingYang Smart Energy did not make the cut.
The qualified applicants have documented that they meet the minimum criteria for sustainability and positive ripple effects. These applicants also meet the prequalification criterion of implementation ability.
In the auction, the qualified players will compete for state support by submitting increasingly lower bids until one bidder remains. The player with the lowest bid in øre/kWh wins the auction.
The auction marks the first competition for project areas for offshore wind on the Norwegian continental shelf were announced.