Denmark has 'tools' against Chinese 'threat' at big offshore wind tender, minister says
As Nordic country gears up for 3GW auction for wind at sea, climate minister Aagaard tells newspaper Chinese are ‘threat’ to European industry
With Denmark in the midst of its largest offshore wind tender process to date, the government has “tools” to make sure the award goes to “someone we can trust”, climate and energy minister Lars Aagaard said in an interview where he also called Chinese competition to European wind turbine manufacturers a “threat”.
Bidders have untl 5 December to bid for three sites each of about 1GW capacity in the North Sea. It is the first round of a 5.8GW tender, at which the Danish state for the first time will take a 20% stake in each project. Under a new tendering system, there are also strict criteria on sustainability (that is, blade recycling), critical infrastructure, cybersecurity and investment screening.
Winners at the tender will also be granted the possibility to ‘overplant’ sites – meaning more capacity can be installed than the envisaged grid link could transport, which could underpin the production of green hydrogen at sea.