The average price at the 1.61GW second German offshore wind auction for pre-developed sites rose to €46.60 ($56.31) per megawatt hour, but it also included winning zero subsidy bids again, the federal networks agency BNetzA said.

“The average winning bid price was above the price of the first auction (in 2017). This result reflects the changed competitive situation compared to the first auction,” BNetzA president Jochen Homann said.

“However, also in this round, there were winning zero bids again.”

Iberdrola, Orsted and Innogy were among the winners for a permit to build and operate offshore arrays in the Baltic and North Seas, but the agency didn’t immediately disclose at what price each bid won.

Orsted

Orsted won with both the lowest and the highest off the winning bids.

The Danish offshore wind champion won with its zero subsidy bid for the 420MW Borkum Riffgrund West 1 project, and with a €98.30/MWh bid for the 131.75MW Gode Wind 4 project - both in the North Sea.

The 551.75MW win in this year's tender follows up on Orsted securing 590MW in capacity in Germany's first offshore wind auction last year.

In total, this means that Orsted plans to build 1.14GW new offshore wind capacity in Germany by 2024/2025 (subject to taking final investment decisions).

"We’re very pleased with winning these new projects which add significant capacity to our existing German portfolio and will be value creating to our investors. This is another important step towards achieving our ambition of 11-12GW installed offshore wind capacity world-wide by 2025," the utility's chief executive for wind power, Martin Neubert, said.

Orsted says the fundamental value-drivers behind its bids are the same as in last year’s German auction - larger turbines, superior wind speeds, synergies with adjacent sites, the possibility to extend the operational lifetime of the assets from 25 to 30 years, and the fact that the transmission asset is not part of the construction scope.

In addition to these drivers, a corporate PPA market is developing in Europe, and the company says it sees corporates considering offshore wind to secure a utility-scale supply of green electricity.

Innogy

The third winner in the North Sea was Innogy, with its 325MW Kaskasi project.

The German utility doesn't reveal the exact winning price, but a press official told Recharge that it was above the average winning bid price of €46.60.

"We are very pleased that our Kaskasi project has been successful in Germany's latest offshore auction, reconfirming our ability to successfully compete in a challenging market environment," says Innogy chief operating office for renewables, Hans Bünting.

Innogy plans a final investment decision for Kaskasi in 2020, with a start of operations envisaged for 2022.

The utility says the site with water depths of 18 to 25 metres offers proven good wind conditions.

The array is slated to be built off Heligoland island in the same grid connection cluster (HelWin2) as Innogy's Nordsee Ost wind farm. The converter platform required for grid connection has been in operation for several years.

Iberdrola

Three Baltic Sea projects with a total of 875MW also won in the auction, of which 486MW were won by Iberdrola, tipped by Recharge already in January to dominate the Baltic Sea portion of the tender.

The Spanish renewables giant was successful with its 476MW Baltic Eagle project with a bid price of €64.60/MWh, and the 10MW Wikinger Süd, which it won with a zero bid. Wikinger Süd is n extension to its 350MW Wikinger wind farm that it had completed only recently.

Baltic Eagle is located close to Wikinger, likely allowing the company to tap into synergies. Iberdrola already said it wants to develop Baltic Eagle and Wikinger Süd jointly, and said that with almost 850MW, the Wikinger-Baltic Eagle marine complex will be the Baltic Sea's largest.

Iberdrola chief executive Ignacio Galán said the Baltic projects "reflect all the keys of Iberdrola's strategy: the commitment to technological innovation to develop efficient renewable energies, the commitment to reduce emissions to fight climate change, and the creation of a positive economic, environmental and social impact."

Iberdrola did not reveal at what price it won its bids.

The last winner in the Baltic was Frankfurt-based developer KNK Wind with its Arcadis Ost 1 project that accounts for the remainder of the winning acreage, or 399MW.

There are no details on the plans to develop KNK further. The developer since reaching a state permit for the project in 2014 has not released any updated information and cannot be reached by phone or email.

UPDATES to add comment by Orsted, Innogy, Iberdrola and information on the Baltic Sea

Wind

Average price at German offshore tender rises to €46.60/MWh