Second offshore tender issued for 200 MW

The Danish energy ministry has issued its second 200 MW offshore wind farm tender of the year. Once again it will be an extension to an existing development. The first tender, a 200 MW extension to the 160 MW Horns Reef project in the North Sea, attracted only four Danish bidders (Windpower Monthly, October 2004). This time developers will be bidding for an extension to the 165 MW Nysted offshore wind farm, in Rødsand, south of the island of Lolland in the Baltic Sea. It had been expected that the concession for the second 200 MW plant would have been granted for a site in Denmark's Great Belt at Omø Stålgrunde, but the proposed site met with local protest. The energy agency will not say why it chose Rødsand, but its map of the area shows four proposed 35 square kilometre areas in shallow waters of five to 20 metres depth within 12 kilometres of the coast. The areas are free of international nature protection zones and outside main shipping routes. Applications for prequalification are due January 14.