The Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (TTJA) announced auctions for the development of an offshore wind farm in the Saare 2.1, Saare 2.2 and Saare 3 areas west of Saaremaa. The auction for Saare 2.1 will take place from 18 June 2024 at 12 p.m., Estonian time (UTC+3), until 20 June 2024 12 p.m., the auction for Saare 2.2 from 26 June 2024 at 12 p.m. to 28 June 2024 at 12 p.m., and the auction for Saare 3 from 2 July 2024 at 12 p.m. to 4 July 2024 at 12 p.m.
Competing tenders were submitted to the Authority for the development of an offshore wind farm in the Saare 2.1, Saare 2.2 and Saare 3 areas. The CPTRA inspected all the submitted applications in accordance with the Building Code and sent these to relevant state authorities for their opinion.
Three companies who submitted a competing application for a superficies licence qualified to participate in the auctions for Saare 2.1 and Saare 2.2 sea areas: Estonia Offshore Wind DevCo OÜ, Deep Wind Offshore AS (Norwegian company) and OÜ Utilitas Wind. Four companies qualified to participate in the auction for the Saare 3 sea area: Sunly Wind OÜ, Estonia Offshore Wind DevCo OÜ, Deep Wind Offshore AS and OÜ Utilitas Wind. As several companies qualified for the auction, the Building Code provides for the obligation to carry out an auction.
The size of the Saare 2.1 sea area is 163.8 km², the size of the Saare 2.2 sea area is 88.5 km² and the size of the Saare 3 sea area is 20.1 km². All the areas are located in an area west of Saaremaa suitable for the development of wind energy according to the Estonian maritime spatial plan. The boundaries of the areas are based on the first superficies licence application. In case the same developer wins the auctions for bordering sites, it is possible to merge them.
The auctions will take place electronically in the online environment for state land auction www.riigimaaoksjon.ee. The starting price for Saare 2.1 area is €2,457,000, the starting price for Saare 2.2 area is €1,327,500 and the starting price for Saare 3 area is €301,500. The minimum bid increment is €50,000. The auctions have an extended end, with the period of extended end being 15 minutes.
In order to participate in the auction, qualified participants must submit an application for participation in the auction to the CPTRA and pay a deposit of €49,140 for the Saare 2.1 area, €26,550 for the Saare 2.2 area and €6,030 for the Saare 3 area. Based on the applications for superficies licence of the companies qualified for the auction, the capacity of the planned offshore wind farm in the Saare 2.1 area is in the range of 1560–2200 MW, in the Saare 2.2 area 840–1200 MW and in the Saare 3 area 120–260 MW.
The winner of the auction is the undertaking who made the highest bid and paid that amount, and the procedure for a superficies licence and environmental impact assessment will commence no later than within 90 days from the announcement of the winner of the auction. The developer who won the auction must then submit an environmental impact assessment programme to the CPTRA within 18 months and an environmental impact assessment report within 24 months after the decision to approve the environmental impact assessment programme as meeting the requirements.
In December 2023 and January 2024, the CPTRA conducted auctions for the development of offshore wind farms in the Liivi 1 and Liivi 2 sea areas, and in both cases the winner was UAB “Ignitis renewables projektai 6”. In February 2024, the CPTRA conducted an auction for the Saare 1 innovation area to which no tenders were submitted. A new auction will be organised for the Saare 1 area, depending on the interest of the developers, at the earliest in the second half of this year.
Descriptions of the Saare 2.1, Saare 2.2 and Saare 3 sea areas can be found on the website of the CPTRA.
Source: Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (TTJA)
