Spain heads offshore wind auction interest

Spanish companies are heading the list of those interested in bidding in Portugal’s eolic offshore wind power auction.

Companies from other countries including the US, Japan, China, Canada, and many Portuguese are also interested in bidding in the future auction, plans for which the government is considering advancing before the snap elections on March 10.
All told there are some 50 companies from 17 nations interested in bidding, including large energy companies such as Galp, EDP Renováveis and Finerge. There are 11 interested companies from Portugal, and 14 from Spain, 7 from France, 5 from the UK, and 3 from Germany.
The government had planned to launch the first phase of the eolic offshore auction at the start of 2024, but with snap election scheduled for March 10, the Ministry of the Environment is still weighing up if it should advance with the auction process before the elections.
A number of companies — many in consortiums — have been invited to take part in the first or dialogue phase of the process including: SwitchH2 B.V. – Netherlands, Valorem – Belgium, LisarBenergy – UK, X1 Wind – Spain, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) – Denmark, Mota-Engil/Mewton – Portugal, Madoqua Renewables – Portugal/Netherlands, Cerulean Winds Limited – UK, HEN – Serviços Energéticos Lda – Portugal, ACCIONA Energía – Spain, Greenália – Spain, Flotation Energy/Exus Portugal – UK/Portugal, Triple Watt – Portugal, Ventient Energy Serviços/Renantis Spa – UK, GreenVolt/Bluefloat – Portugal/Spain, Portland Hill – UK, and Qenergy (France) among many others.
The Portuguese government wants to conduct the auctions to award the right to build and operate offshore wind farms and to determine the support to be provided, replacing the administrative allocations of permits and support used previously.