Norwegian firm wins 1.5GW Estonian offshore wind tender

Estonia’s Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (CPTRA) confirmed that the company submitted a winning bid of €2.46 million, which was also the starting price for the auction. 

The Estonia Offshore Wind DevCo consortium, owned by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Lithuanian state utility Ignitis Group, plus Estonian developer Utilitas Wind, had each previously expressed interest in developing the Saare 2.1 site that was being auctioned, but did not submit bids. 

Deep Wind Offshore will now move forward with its proposals to build a 1.5GW offshore wind farm in the Estonian Baltic Sea. 

The 163km² site is located around 30km west of Saaremaa island, with water depths of between 29 and 66 metres.  

The CPTRA said superficies licensing and an environmental impact assessment will now need to commence within 90 days under terms of the tender. 

Estonia is aiming to meet 100% of its electricity demand from renewable sources by the end of the decade, with offshore wind expected to play a crucial role in achieving that goal. 

The next tender, for the Saare 2.2 site, is scheduled to take place next week between 26 and 28 June. 

Saare 2.2 is around 88.5km², with a potential capacity of 487MW of offshore wind, and its starting price is around €1.33 million, according to the CPTRA. 

The Saare 3 site, to be auctioned 2-4 July, will be 20.1km² with a potential capacity of around 110MW and a starting price of €301,500.