Sørlige Nordsjø II Auction Winner Announced

Ventyr (Parkwind and Ingka) won the highly anticipated auction for Sørlige Nordsjø II, which began on Monday, 18 March. The winner was announced at a press conference held by Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, alongside Minister of Energy Terje Aasland.

– This is a milestone we have now reached. I can assure you that the bidding process was intense. This demonstrates that the framework we have established for Sørlige Nordsjø II is a solid foundation and has yielded successful results, said Energy Minister Terje Aasland, who also mentioned that the consortium is collaborating well with Norsea.

Lowest bid of 115 øre/kWh

The auction was conducted as an English auction with open bidding. In the auction, the qualified players competed for state support of 15 years and up to 23 billion NOK, by submitting increasingly lower bids until one bidder remained.

Ventyr had the lowest bid of 115 øre/kWh and won the auction (NOK).

For competitive reasons, the bidding in the auction was closed to the public. After the auction, the ministry published the name of the auction winner and the size of the winning bid (strike price).

Five applicants qualified for the auction round for Sørlige Nordsjø II (Southern North Sea II)

• Aker Offshore Wind, BP, and Statkraft
• Equinor and RWE
• Shell, Lyse, and Eviny
• Ventyr (Parkwind and Ingka)
• Norseman Wind (Energie Baden-Württemberg AG) - this consortium pulled out before the auction.

– Today marks an important milestone towards achieving our governmental ambitions of awarding 30GW in offshore wind by 2040 says Karianne Kojen Andersen and Kai Stoltz from GCE Ocean Technology.

– It will boost our supply chain, essential for meeting our targets where many of our members plays a key role and we congratulate Ventyr with the win.

Supported with 23 Billion NOK

Ventyr is granted a time-limited exclusive right to the project area and to submit a notification with a proposal for a project-specific impact assessment programme and to apply for a concession.

A two-sided Contract for Difference (CfD) is issued as a long-term agreement with the state, which alleviates the offshore wind developer from the risk associated with the market price for electricity during the support period. The Contract for Difference has a support period of 15 years. The support has a total upper cost frame of 23 billion NOK.

The EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) approved state aid for the offshore wind project in Southern North Sea II at the end of 2023. ESA's approval has been an important precondition for the Norwegian government to be able to auction off the project area and provide state aid to the project.

Bottom Fixed with 1500 MW

Southern North Sea II, is an area designated for fixed-bottom offshore wind and is located along the Danish border two hundred kilometers southwest of Kristiansand in Norway.

In this area, the seabed lies up to 70 meters below the sea surface, which is deeper than the Danish and British fixed-bottom offshore wind farms in the North Sea.

The installed capacity in the project area is to be a minimum of 1,400 MW and a maximum of 1,500 MW.