Germany’s grid regulator (BNetzA) has named BP and TotalEnergies as auction winners for four new offshore wind sites in the North Sea and the Baltic with a combined capacity of 7 GW worth €12.6bn ($14bn).
As a step towards Germany achieving its offshore expansion goal of 30 GW by 2030, three North Sea areas, each with an output of 2 GW, were offered, as well as one area with a capacity of 1 GW in the Baltic Sea.
The country’s biggest-ever offshore wind auction was carried out through a so-called dynamic bidding process, where bidders with the highest willingness to pay for an area were awarded the contract.
UK supermajor BP landed the biggest win, securing development rights for two bottom-fixed wind farm sites totalling 4 GW by bidding a total of €6.78bn and marking its entry into offshore wind in continental Europe.
The two other sites, with a combined capacity of 3 GW, have been snapped up by holding companies, North Sea OFW N12-1 and Baltic Sea OFW O2-2, controlled by French energy major TotalEnergies and worth a total of €5.82bn.
A total of 184 bidding rounds were conducted for North Sea sites and 72 bidding rounds for the site in the Baltic Sea. The successful bidders are entitled to the implementation of a planning approval procedure for the construction and operation of wind turbines on the site, as well as the right to connection and grid connection capacity. The commissioning of the wind farms is scheduled for 2030. The concessions will run for a term of 25 years, extendable to 35 years.
