Denmark Opens 2.8 GW CfD-Based Offshore Wind Tender

The Danish Energy Agency (DEA) has launched tenders for three offshore wind areas that can house a minimum of 2.8 GW of installed capacity. The process is based on a Contracts for Difference (CfD) model, which the DEA says will increase the likelihood of qualified bids, following the tender launched last year through which the state did not receive any bids for the first three of the six offered sites.

The sites are North Sea Central (Nordsøen Midt), Hesselø in the Kattegat and North Sea South (Nordsøen Syd). The deadline for bids for the North Sea Central and Hesselø is in the spring of 2026. The deadline for the North Sea South is autumn 2028.

The DEA is offering a two-sided capability-based Contract for Difference (CfD) for each of the three projects, following a dialogue with the industry.

Under the CfD model, the state guarantees the offshore wind power producers a fixed price for the electricity, which reduces the risk of low electricity prices for the developer and provides greater security. The Danish government has set a ceiling of a total of DKK 55.2 billion (around EUR 7.4 billion), including VAT.

Furthermore, the new Danish tender also sets requirements in relation to sustainability and social responsibility. These include using reusable wind turbine blades, requirements against social dumping, with the tender winner of the Hesselø site also required to establish the offshore wind farm of a nature-inclusive design.

The North Sea Central site is planned to accommodate an offshore wind farm with an installed capacity of at least 1 GW and must be completed by the end of 2032.

The Hesselø project will have a capacity of at least 800 MW and must be completed by the end of 2032, while the North Sea South site will also host at least 1 GW of offshore wind and must be completed by the end of 2034.

The tender allows the possibility of overplanting.

The newly launched tenders follow an offshore wind procurement that the DEA opened in 2024, where six areas were put out to tender.

At the end of the tender deadline for the first three areas, the Danish Energy Agency had not received any bids and subsequently held several market dialogues, which formed the basis for two political agreements in 2025. The new 2.8 GW offshore wind tenders are based on these agreements.