Swedish utility Vattenfall has been selected as the winner of Denmark's latest offshore wind tender, securing development rights for the Hesselø and North Sea I Mid projects.

The Hesselø project will be located in the Kattegat Sea between Denmark and Sweden, approximately 30 km from the coastline, with a minimum installed capacity of 800 MW. The North Sea I Mid project, situated in the North Sea roughly 20 km offshore near Hvide Sande, will have a minimum capacity of 1 GW.

Vattenfall submitted bids of DKK 504 ($77.8) per MWh for North Sea I Mid and DKK 542 ($83.7) per MWh for Hesselø. Grid connections have already been reserved for both projects, with the connection points situated approximately 50 km inland. The development consent will run for 30 years, with an option to extend for an additional 10 years.

Both projects must be completed by 2032 at the latest and are expected to supply electricity equivalent to the consumption of at least 1.8 million Danish and European households.

The new awards build on Vattenfall's existing 1.5 GW offshore wind portfolio in Denmark. The company currently operates five offshore wind farms in the country, generating approximately 6.5 TWh of electricity annually — enough to power around 1.5 million homes. Denmark was home to the world's first commercial offshore wind farm at Vindeby in 1991 and has remained a cornerstone of European wind development.

"Wind power, together with other fossil-free sources of generation, can help meet the growing demand for clean electricity in Europe. Projects like this demonstrate how we are scaling offshore wind while maintaining a strong focus on affordability and long-term value," said David Flood, head of Vattenfall's offshore business unit.

A third offshore wind farm in the tender round, North Sea South, with a planned capacity of 1 GW, has a bid deadline set for October 2028.

"It is very pleasing that we have now reached an important milestone with a positive result, where we can announce the winner of the tenders," said Stig Uffe Pedersen, deputy director general of the Danish Energy Agency.

Denmark's previous offshore wind tender, launched in 2024, covered six areas but failed to attract any bids, a pattern seen across several European countries as inflation, higher interest rates, and elevated supply chain costs compressed developer margins. The country subsequently adopted a contract for difference (CfD) approach — a two-way revenue stabilisation mechanism already used in markets such as the United Kingdom — which resulted in bids for two of the areas.

Source: Splash247