Denmark's offshore wind ambitions have taken a heavy hit after the first part of the 6GW tender in the North Sea failed to attract any bids.

The deadline for bidding on the first 3 GW of Denmark's 6 GW offshore wind tendering procedure expired on Thursday. The Danish Energy Agency has not received bids for any of the three offshore wind farms in the North Sea put out to tender.

The Danish minister for climate, energy, and utilities Lars Aagard has asked the Danish Energy Agency to engage in dialogue with the market to identify why no bids have been submitted especially since several companies expressed their interest during the initial market dialogue.

"This is a very disappointing result. The circumstances for offshore wind in Europe have changed significantly in a relatively short time, including large price and interest rate increases," Aagard said.

Besides the three offshore wind farms in the North Sea, the tendering procedure includes three offshore wind farms in Danish coastal waters - Hesselø, Kattegat, and Kriegers Flak II. The deadline for bids on these three farms is April 1, 2025.

Originally the six sites would allow the construction of at least 6GW of capacity. The winning projects were also supposed to be allowed to put up as many turbines as possible, allowing the capacity to go to 10GW or more. Danish offshore wind farms currently have a total capacity of 2.7GW.

However, Denmark's biggest offshore wind tender to date offered no subsidies to developers competing for the right to build wind farms on the sites. Bidders were supposed to participate by tendering a fixed concession payment to the state over 30 years for the right to use the marine area. The concession payment is combined with 20% state co-ownership, making the Danish state a minority owner in each project.