The European Commission has approved Denmark’s support for the Thor offshore wind project, which will be located in the Danish part of the North Sea, under EU state aid rules. Denmark had approved an aid measure with a total maximum budget of DKK6.5bn (€870m), to support the design, construction and operation of the 800-1,000 M offshore wind project and of associated substation and grid connection. The aid will be awarded through a competitive tender and will take the form of a 20-year two-way contract-for-difference (CfD) premium; the premium will be paid on top of the market price for the electricity generated by the project.
The DKK15.5bn (€2.1bn) Thor project is the first of the three offshore wind projects planned in the Danish Energy Agreement from 2018. The first wind turbine is expected to be connected to the grid as of January 2025 and the entire project must be fully commissioned and connected to the grid by 2027 at the latest. The licence for power generation is given for 30 years with the possibility of extension for 5 years. The Danish Energy Agency launched the tendering process for the Thor offshore wind project in September 2020 and pre-qualified a total of six consortia and companies in January 2021, namely Ørsted, RWE (Thor Wind Farm project subsidiary), Vattenfall, Swan Wind (owned by Eneco and European Energy), a consortium of Total and Iberdrola, and a consortium of SSE and Thor OFW (owned by Copenhagen Infrastructure IV and Andel Holding). The winner should be announced at the end of 2021.
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