French Total Energies and German energy group EnBW were declared winners of a German auction for offshore wind power with a total capacity of 2,500 megawatts on Friday, Reuters reports.

The total bids amounted to just over EUR 3bn.

”The results show that investing in offshore wind energy in Germany is attractive,” said Klaus Mueller, chairman of Germany’s federal network agency, Bundesnetzagentur.

The two allocated areas of 1,500MW and 1,000MW are located in the North Sea around 120 kilometers northwest of Heligoland.

The wind farms are scheduled to go into operation in 2031.

In a press release, the network agency writes that the 1,500MW contract was awarded to bidder Offshore Wind One GmbH, led by TotalEnergies, for area N-11.2 at a bid value of EUR 1,305m per MW.

The 1,000MW was awarded to bidder EnBW Offshore Projektgesellschaft 1 GmbH for area N-12.3 at a bid value of EUR 1,065m per MW.

This corresponds to a payment by the winning bidder of EUR 1.9575bn for area N-11.2 and a payment of EUR 1.065bn for area N-12.3. The average award value per gigawatt in 2023 was EUR 1.8bn, according to the network agency.

”As in the previous year, the winners were found after several online bidding rounds with increasing bidding levels. Several bidding rounds were conducted per day. In total, 46 bidding rounds were conducted for area N-11.2 and 55 bidding rounds for area N-12.3,” says the network agency, which was responsible for the process.

”With the award, the winning bidders have the right to carry out an approval procedure for the construction and operation of wind turbines in the areas, as well as the right to connection and grid connection capacity,” it adds.

(English edit by Kristoffer Grønbæk)