DONG to build 700MW off Dutch coast

Danish wind developer DONG Energy has won the rights to build two wind farms off the shore of the Netherlands.

DONG won the tender to build the Borssele 1 and 2 with a bid of €72.70 per MW/hour for the first 15 years of the contract, excluding transmission costs. After that, the wind farms will sell their power at market price. The offshore projects are expected to generate 350MW each, enough to power 1 million Dutch households.

According to Dutch tender regulation, DONG has a four-year window to complete the projects, with a one-year grace period.

Four years ago, Dong set a goal to reach €100 per MW/hour over the lifetime of a wind project, a target later adopted by the broader offshore industry. The wind developer said its expertise in wind development helped it reach that target earlier than expected, along with industry-wide technological improvements, collaboration and a maturing supply chain.

Sammual Leupold, head of wind power and a vice president at DONG, said in a statement that “this demonstrates the great potential of offshore wind”.

“Winning this tender in a highly competitive field of bidders is another proof of our market-leading position and our business model which builds on continued innovation, industrialisation and scale.”

In May, DONG won the rights to develop an offshore project in a completely new market. A 160,480 acre area located 10 nautical miles off the coast of New Jersey in the US was transferred from energy company RES Americas Developments to DONG. The wind developer is still waiting for approval, but the site is large enough to accommodate more than 100MW of offshore wind.

In Europe’s largest initial public offering so far this year, DONG was valued at DKr98.2 billion ($15 billion; €13 billion) last month. The developer listed 72.8 million shares on the Nasdaq stock market in Copenhagen for DKr235 per share, representing 17.4 percent of the company. The transaction generated DKr17.1 billion in proceeds.

As a result of the float, the Danish government’s majority stake in DONG fell from 58.8 percent to 50.4 percent. New Energy Investment, fully owned by Goldman Sachs, has a 14.7 percent stake, while power co-operative SEAS-NVE has a 9.6 percent holding and pension fund ATP has a 4 percent share.