Total Energies has secured the rights to build an offshore wind farm in the German area N-9.4 in the North Sea. The German network agency, Bundesnetzagentur, held the auction on June 16, where Total Energies won the contract ahead of another bidder with a payment bid of 180 million euros. This was announced by the industry organization BWO (Bundesverband Windenergie Offshore) in a press release.
The offshore wind area to which Total Energies has won the rights covers 146 square kilometers and has a grid connection capacity of 1 gigawatt (GW). The area has not been centrally surveyed, and qualitative criteria were not included in the assessment. The auction is the third of its kind based on the WindSeeG law and was held as a dynamic bidding process, where the contract was awarded to the highest payment bid per megawatts.
- The results of the auction for area N-9.4 clearly show how significantly the risks for offshore wind turbine developers have increased in recent years due to geopolitical tensions and supply bottlenecks, says Stefan Thimm, CEO of BWO.
Compared to previous bidding rounds, there is a clear decrease in willingness to pay. While the bids in 2024 for areas N-12.3 and N-11.2 were over 1 million euros per megawatt, Total Energies won N-9.4 with a bid of 180,000 euros per megawatt. Only two zero-cent bidders participated in this year's tender, highlighting the increasing risk and less attractive conditions for investors.
- A bilateral contract for difference, or CfD, is necessary alongside the long-term power purchase agreements to ensure the long-term attractiveness of the German market for investors," says Stefan Thimm.
The Bundesnetzagentur is planning the next tender no later than August 1, 2025 for the areas N-10.1 (2 GW) and N-10.2 (500 MW). These areas have been centrally examined. As of the end of 2024, a total of 1,639 offshore wind turbines with a total capacity of 9.2 GW were in operation in Germany.
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