Lithuania's 2nd offshore wind tender to be relaunched at new terms

Lithuania will relaunch its second offshore wind tender with updated conditions after its first edition failed to attract the minimum required number of proposals and was declared unsuccessful, the Ministry of Energy announced on Tuesday.

Domestic utility Ignitis Group (VSE:IGN1L) is the only company that submitted a bid in the competition which aimed to award rights to the development of a 700-MW wind project in the Baltic Sea.

According to the tender regulations, at least two bidders needed to file applications in order for the competitive round to be successful. The deadline for accepting proposals was April 14, 2024. The round opened in mid-January and was intended to enable the construction of an offshore park located around 30 km (18.6 mi) off the coast with an estimated annual output of 3 TWh of electricity.

Under the rules, developers could submit either the development fee or request support in the form of a two-way contract for difference (CfD) in the range between EUR 64.31 (USD 68.3) per MWh and EUR 107.18 per MWh. The mechanism to compete for the amount of possible state support was not applied in the first tender, in which an investor was awarded based on the highest-price offer.

The Ministry of Energy will consult with market players and update the tender conditions before relaunching it. “During these consultations we need to find out what specific conditions would maximise the attractiveness of the project and increase its resilience to market fluctuations,” said Minister of Energy Dainius Kreivys.

The new round is due to kick off “as soon as possible.”

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.062)

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