Denmark on Monday (Apr 22) launched its biggest offshore wind tender to date, offering no subsidies to companies competing for the right to erect turbines on six sites with a combined capacity of up to 10 gigawatt (GW), the energy and climate ministry said.

The wind farms, to be completed by 2030, are crucial if Denmark, home to industry leaders Vestas and Orsted, is to meet its target to reduce CO2 emissions by 70 per cent from 1990 levels by the end of this decade.

Participants must offer the price they are willing to pay to the state over 30 years in order to win the right to establish the wind farms. The state would own a 20 per cent stake in each of the tendered projects.

“The next chapter must now be written and executed by the market,” Climate and Energy Minister Lars Aagaard said in a statement.

Six sites will be made available, making it possible to construct at least 6 GW. The winning projects will however be allowed to put up as many turbines as possible, meaning the capacity could be 10 GW or even more, the ministry said.

Such an amount of wind power would more than cover Danish consumption, meaning green power could be exported to neighbouring countries or used to produce hydrogen, it added.

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The cost of building 1 GW of offshore wind, which is enough to power roughly one million European homes, is around US$2.3 billion, according to the ministry. Denmark today has a total of 2.7 GW offshore wind installed. REUTERS