Competing applications were submitted to the Authority for the development of offshore wind farms in the Liivi 1 and Liivi 2 areas. The CPTRA inspected all the submitted applications in accordance with the Building Code and sent these to relevant state authorities for their opinion. All seven companies who submitted a competing application for a superficies licence – OÜ Utilitas Wind, Liivi Offshore OÜ, Aker Offshore Wind Europe GmbH, VIRU KEEMIA GRUPP AS, Sunly Wind OÜ, Edel Offshore Wind OÜ and UAB „Ignitis Renewables Projektai 6“ – qualified to participate in the auctions for Liivi 1 and Liivi 2 sea areas. As seven companies qualified for the auction, the Building Code provides for the obligation to carry out an auction.
“We are happy to see that there is a lot of interest in developing offshore wind farms. Now that all developers are qualified to participate in the auctions, we can start carrying them out. We wish the participants much success!” said Kristi Talving, Director General of the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority.
According to Tiit Riisalo, Minister of Economy and Information Technology, investing in renewable energy production does not only contribute to climate goals, but also gives a sense of security to companies. “The transition to climate-neutral energy production does not only bring obligations but rather it can give a new boost to the growth of our economy. Estonia’s strong steps towards accelerating the introduction of renewable energy are a clear message to both our companies and international investors that Estonia is a place to develop a modern industry with green energy,” said Riisalo.
The auctions will take place electronically in the online environment for state land auction www.riigimaaoksjon.ee. The auction for Liivi 2 sea area takes place from 7 December 2023 at 12:00 (CET+2) to 13 December 2023 at 12:00 (CET+2), Estonian time, and the auction for Liivi 1 sea area takes place from 11 January 2024 at 12:00 (CET+2) to 17 January 2024 at 12:00 (CET+2), Estonian time. Both auctions have an extended end, with the period of extended end being 15 minutes.
Liivi 1 and Liivi 2 sea areas are located northwest of Ruhnu island in an area suitable for the development of wind energy according to the Estonian maritime spatial plan. The area of Liivi 1 is 77.7 km2 and its starting price is €1,165,500. The area of Liivi 2 is 114.9 km2 and its starting price is €1,723,500. The minimum bid increment is €50,000. 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 €23,310 for the Liivi 1 area and €34,470 for the Liivi 2 area.
The winners of the auctions are the participants who made the highest bid and paid that amount, and procedures 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. Developers who won the auctions must then present their environmental impact assessment programmes to the CPTRA within 18 months, followed by an environmental impact assessment report 24 months after the environmental impact assessment programme has been declared to meet the requirements.
The descriptions of Liivi 1 and Liivi 2 sea areas can be found on the CPTRA website here (link) and here (link).
Source: Estonian Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (CPTRA)
