The Consumer Protection and Technical Regulation Authority (CPTRA) from Estonia has received ten applications for three offshore wind sites west of Saaremaa. Three developers are vying for the Saare 2.1 and Saare 2.2 areas, while four are contending for the Saare 3 area.
Estonia Offshore Wind DevCo OÜ, Deep Wind Offshore AS, and OÜ Utilitas Wind submitted their competing applications for the Saare 2.1, Saare 2.2, and Saare 3 areas. Additionally, Sunly Wind OÜ, a first-time applicant, is competing for the Saare 3 area.
The CPTRA verifies the compliance of all submitted competing applications with the provisions of the Building Code before referring them to the relevant state authorities for evaluation. Following feedback from state authorities, the CPTRA assesses competing applications according to legal guidelines. An auction is scheduled with applications meeting the requirements no later than 60 days after confirming the assessment results. Presumably, the auctions for Saare 2.1, Saare 2.2, and Saare 3 will occur in June 2024.
The starting price for auctioning off public water bodies for wind power plants is €15,000 per square kilometre. The Saare 2.1 area covers approximately 163.8 km², with a starting price of €2,457,000. The Saare 2.2 area spans around 88.5 km², starting at approximately €1,327,500, while the Saare 3 area, covering 20.1 km², starts at €301,500. The auction winner is the participant with the highest bid and payment. Subsequently, proceedings for a superficies licence and environmental impact assessment will commence within 90 days of announcing the auction winner.
