Five Applicants Secure Spots in Norway’s Southern North Sea II Offshore Wind Auction

Planning & Permitting

February 16, 2024, by Adnan Memija

Five applicants have qualified for the upcoming 1.5 GW Sørlige Nordsjø II (Southern North Sea II) offshore wind auction round in Norway.

“Today, we can announce that several strong applicants have been qualified to participate in the auction for offshore wind for Sørlige Nordsjø II. We have decided to proceed with the auction, which will begin on the 18^th of March. I look forward to a good auction between these companies”, said Minister of Energy Terje Aasland.

The consortia that have qualified to participate in the auction are Aker Offshore Wind, BP and Statkraft; Equinor and RWE; Norseman Wind, a subsidiary of EnBW; Shell, Lyse and Eviny; and Ventyr, a consortium of Parkwind and Ingka Investments.

The Norwegian government officially opened the application window for Norway’s first offshore wind auction on 29 March 2023, offering a combined capacity of 3 GW across two areas, 1.5 GW at Southern North Sea II and 1.5 GW at Utsira Nord.

Back in November 2023, Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy received seven applications to participate in the auction to develop a fixed-bottom offshore wind farm with a capacity of between 1.4 GW and 1.5 GW in the Southern North Sea II zone.

The companies and consortia that applied are Aker Offshore Wind, BP and Statkraft; Mingyang Smart Energy; Shell, Lyse and Eviny; Parkwind and Ingka; Norseman Wind; Hydroelectric Corporation; Equinor and RWE.

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The Southern North Sea II tender is based on the so-called English auction model, with the bidder with the lowest bid price (NOK øre/kWh) to be selected.

After the auction, the Ministry will publish the name of the auction winner and the size of the winning bid. The bid determines the strike price that forms the basis of the two-way Contract for Difference (CfD).

Recently, Norway received clearance for up to NOK 23 billion (about EUR 2.02 billion) in state aid in the form of a bilateral CfD for the Southern North Sea II (Sørlige Nordsjø II) offshore wind farm project.

The Norwegian Government is planning to award areas that have the potential for 30,000 MW of offshore wind production by 2040.