No takers as offshore wind lease auction flops
Smaller area adjacent to Estonian sites won by Norwegian developer Deep Wind Offshore find no bidder
No bids were made in the latest Estonian sea lease auction for offshore wind, the Baltic country’s consumer protection and technical regulatory authority (CPTRA) said.
The regulator therefore won’t initiate a so-called licensing procedure for the 20.1 square kilometre Saare 3 area.
Norwegian developer Deep Wind Offshore and Latvian developer OÜ Utilitas Wind had both qualified to participate in the auction and paid a €6,030 deposit for it, but neither of them made a bid. The starting price for the auction was €301,500.
Estonia is pushing for offshore wind in an effort to rid itself of the need for Russian energy imports and to phase out the usage of rather polluting shale oil, an indigenous energy source.
That site according to the regulator could accommodate an 840MW to 1.2GW offshore wind farm, but water depths range from 29 to 66 metres, which likely makes the area more apt for floating wind.
The developer has also secured the Saare 2.2 site, which could fit a 1.56GW to 2.2GW project.
The now-flopped Saare 3 concession would have been for only 120 to 260MW.