Vattenfall to proceed with Danish near shore wind farms

On September 12, the Danish authorities announced that Vattenfall had won the tender to develop and build wind farms on two sites off the west coast of Jutland. The winning bid was 0.05 EUR (0.63 SEK) per kWh.

"We are really pleased that the Government and a majority in the Folketing has now confirmed that we can start building these near shore wind farms. This means that Vattenfall will further strengthen its position as a leading wind power producer in Denmark. At the same time it means more affordable renewable electricity for the Danish population and a quicker route to making Denmark independent of fossil fuels," says Magnus Hall, CEO and President of Vattenfall.

Since the result of the tender was made public in September, a political debate has been going on in Denmark as to whether these near-shore projects should be approved or not. The argument that building wind farms so close to shore would disturb the view of the horizon too much had been a major reason to ban these projects. Today's announcement by the Danish Folketing means that this type of wind farm is now approved.

The next step for Vattenfall will be to initiate the procurement of the main components and services (wind turbines, foundations and cables as well as agreements with installation ships) so that the construction phase can start as planned in 2019. The first power will be supplied in 2020.

*Near shore projects are offshore wind farms built on a distance up to approximately ten kilometres from the coast. In comparison, Vattenfall's wind farm at Horns Rev 3, which is currently being built, is located 12 kilometres from the coast.